Tafonomía de restos de micromamíferos recuperados del sitio arqueológico Agua de La Mula (Mendoza, Argentina) y su implicancia en la subsistencia humana

FERNÁNDEZ, F.J.; DE SANTIS, L.J.M. 2013. Tafonomía de restos de micromamíferos recuperados del sitio arqueológico Agua de La Mula (Mendoza, Argentina) y su implicancia en la subsistencia humana. Cuadernos del Instituto Nacional de Antropología y Pensamiento Latinoamericano - Series Especiales 1(1):181-195.

Abstract. Micromammal remains from the archaeological sequence of Agua de La Mula (35º22'24,9''S, 68º15'04,2''W, south-central Mendoza, Argentina) are taphonomically studied. The remains (NISP=1026, MNE=1,026, MNI=491) were recovered from the Late Holocene layers (1,600-1,000 years C14 BP). The micromammal assemblages are composed by 10 taxa of rodents, one chiropteran and two marsupials, associated to transitional mosaic of Patagonian steppe and Monte desert environments. The absence of cut marks and the presence of few burned remains recovered from the site would indicate no human consumption. Moreover, the presence of pellets preserved in stratigraphy and light digestive corrosion on some teeth, indicate that the main accumulator agents were probably avian strigiforms. The absence of weathering, rodent marks, hydraulic transport, root action, and diagenesis, suggest a good preservation and a rapid incorporation of the material in the stratigraphic context. However, trampling, sedimentary corrosion and manganese oxide evidences were seen on the micromammal remains, indicating some episodes of humidity inside the cave. Finally, this information provided here would help us to explain the scope of the resource intensification process, proposed for the region in previous researches. In this sense, possibly this process could not have been so pronounced for that hunter-gatherers exploit the micromammals.