Abstract

ORSI, Juan Pablo. FOOD EXPLOITATION BASED ON CAMELIDS DURING THE EARLY HOLOCENE (ca. 10,000-8000 BP). ARCHAEOFAUNAL ANALYSIS OF THE ALERO CUEVAS SITE, PUNA DE SALTA, ARGENTINA. Comechingonia [online]. 2022, vol.26, n.2, pp.21-30. ISSN 1851-0027.

This paper presents new archaeological information from the Alero Cuevas site with a chronology that corresponds to the early Holocene (ca. 9880-8504 years BP). The site is located in the gorge of Las Cuevas (PastosGrandes) at an altitude of ca. 4400 masl, in the Punaat Salta´s Province. Although the whole fauna diversity detected is analyzed, the studies focus on the resources with the highest energy return in these high altitude environments, such as wild camelids (guanacos and vicuñas).The results show an almost absolute predominance of camelids over the other registered taxa.Likewise, there is evidence of a processing pattern of all the anatomical units that make up the skeleton of a camelid and an intense use of elements that have a greater amount of meat in contrast to those that have a greater amount of marrow and bone fat.These results contribute to the analysis and discussion of camelid consumption trends in contrast to other taxa in early contexts.In addition, they are integrated with the macro-regional scale when compared with the sites that present evidence of animal consumption for food use in the Puna de Jujuy, Catamarca and Northern Chile.

Keywords : Early Holocene; exploitation for food camelids Puna de Salta.

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