Between grasslands, shrublands and forests. Paleoenvironmental and taphonomic implications of micromammals in hunter-gatherer archaeological contexts of Southern Pampean Hills

ABSTRACT

The integral study of micromammals recovered from archaeological contexts provides a number of contributions to the understanding of the dynamics of human occupation. In this paper, based on a comprehensive study of Holocene and actualistic samples from central Argentina, we discuss the taphonomic and paleoenvironmental implications in sites with hunter-gatherer occupations. The sequence studied (ca. 1500–4500 BP) indicates the presence of natural predators (i.e. nocturnal and diurnal birds of prey) as responsible for the formation of the assemblage, ruling out, so far, the participation of human groups. On the other hand, the taxonomic composition of the preterite and actualistic assemblages shows a process of advancement of shrubland and forest environments at the expense of the decrease of open environments, grassland and fresh water contexts.

KEYWORDS:

• Zooarchaeology
• actualistic taphonomy
• microvertebrates
• paleoecology
• middle and late Holocene

Acknowledgments

This work is part of the PhD thesis of the first author. Some people have contributed significantly with bibliography and comments. We would like to thank María Clara Álvarez, Fernando Santiago, Bernarda Marconetto, Manuel López, Fernando Fernández, Claudia Montalvo and Pablo Teta. Two anonymous reviewers considerably improved the quality of this work. We are very grateful to the Supaga family for their hospitality and support in the development of our work in Ongamira. To the technicians and administrative staff of the Laboratorio de Microscopía y Análisis de Rayos X (Facultad de Astronomía, Matemática y Física, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba). Funding PICT-2021-I-A-00429 (Director Roxana Cattáneo) and PIDTA-CONSOLIDAR 2023 (Director Roxana Cattáneo). The first author is very grateful to CONICET, ANPCyT and the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Institutions with high academic and scientific level punished by right-wing policies in Argentina.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Funding PICT-2021-I-A-00429; PIDTA-CONSOLIDAR 2023.