Abstract

STOESSEL, Luciana  and  MARTINEZ, Gustavo. Intensive exploitation of guanaco (Lama guanicoe) during the late Holocene: new insights from the Zoko Andi 1 site (Eastern Pampa-Patagonia transition, Buenos Aires province). Rev. Mus. Antropol. [online]. 2022, vol.15, n.3, pp.49-62. ISSN 1852-060X.  http://dx.doi.org/http://doi.org/10.31048/1852.4826.v15.n3.37742.

Abstract The Zoko Andi 1 site (lower course of the Colorado River, Buenos Aires Province) is a residential base reoccupied by hunter-gatherers’ groups during the initial late Holocene (ca. 1500-1300 years BP) and the final late Holocene (ca. 800-400 years BP). Among the abundant evidence recovered at site, the zooarchaeological assemblages are composed of large and small-sized animal species. An outstanding feature is the high number of guanaco bone fragments. In this paper we analyzed the bone remains of this species (N= 73143) to evaluate the intensity of its exploitation. Results indicated that the guanaco was intensively exploited for the consumption of meat, marrow, and bone grease during the initial and final late Holocene. The subsistence model developed for the study area proposed that the intensity of prey exploitation was characteristic of the final late Holocene (ca. 1000-250 years BP). However, the Zoko Andi 1 site provides evidence that these economic strategies would have been set into practice earlier, during the initial late Holocene (ca. 1500-1300 years BP). The intensity in the processing of the guanaco carcasses would have been due to a repeated and prolonged human occupation of the highly productive riparian sector where the site is located.

Keywords : Lower course of the Colorado River; Late Holocene; Guanaco; Intensive exploitation.

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