Abstract

MAROZZI, Antonela; MONDINI, Mariana  and  PINTAR, Elizabeth. Taphonomy of holocenic vertebrates from Cueva Salamanca 1 site in the Argentinean Salt Puna. Comechingonia [online]. 2015, vol.19, n.1, pp.11-36. ISSN 1851-0027.

This paper presents the taphonomic analyses of the archaeofaunal assemblage of Cueva Salamanca 1(CS1) site in the Argentinean Salt Puna, Antofagasta de la Sierra, Catamarca located at 3665 masl. This site contains hunter-gatherer occupations dating to the mid-Holocene. A sample of identified (n=277) and unidentified specimens (n=514) from different stratigraphic levelsfrom the site is examined. The preservation of the osteological specimens is good and does not reveal any significant taphonomic biases. In general, natural intra-site processes such as humidity predominated over atmospheric processes like weathering, although they did not substantially damage the assemblage. The high frequency of anthropic marks and the low frequency of carnivore marks at this site suggest that humans were the main accumulation agent. The information obtained was compared to that of other archaeological sites as well as with paleoecological and paleoenvironmental information available from the study area.

Keywords : Taphonomy; Mid Holocene; Salt Puna; Archaeological site Cueva Salamanca 1.