Late Quaternary Palaeoichnological Sites from the Southern Atlantic Coast of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina: Mammal, Bird and Hominid Evidence

Abstract

Palaeontological and palaeoichnological studies were made along the southeastern coast of Buenos Aires province, Argentina. Continental Late Pleistocene and continental, transitional and marine Holocene stratigraphic units were identified. The former are represented by fossil mammal bones and ichnites dated from 16,000 to 12,000 y. B.P. Continental Early Holocene beds dated circa 8,100 years B.P. contain fish, rodent and bird remains. Middle Holocene sediments 6,930 to 6,570 years B.P. are recorded by deposits bioturbated by estuarine crabs. During the Late Holocene, between 5,000 and 4,800 B.P., a marine transgression is recorded by a very rich mollusc fauna. The palaeoenvironmental variety recorded along a few tens of kilometers of the coast is a distinctive feature of this part of the Argentine coastal region. At Monte Hermoso beach, in the eastern part of the studied zone, archaeological materials were dated 7,300 years B.P., and human footprints dated 7,125 years B.P. were also recorded. In January 2005 some isolated human footprints were found at Pehuen-Co palaeoichnological site, which are older than those found at Monte Hermoso beach and of the same age as the oldest human archaeological findings in Patagonia, that is about 12,000 yeas B.P.

Keywords:

• Late Pleistocene
• Holocene
• palaeoichnology
• bird
• mammal
• human footprints

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This study received budget support from the Universidad Nacional del Sur, Bahia Blanca, Argentina. Also, the first author, S.A.A., is grateful to Dr Jeong Yul, Kim for his invitation to the International Symposium on the Quaternary Footprints of Hominids and Other Vertebrates, held at Jeju Island, South Korea. We thank Martin Lockley, Reiji Kukihara and Alyssa Heberton from the Dinosaur Tracks Museum, University of Colorado at Denver for help with reviewing, editing and drafting of text and figures.