Taphonomic Analysis of the Pleistocene–Holocene Transition Faunal Assemblage from Santa Marta Cave, Chiapas

ABSTRACT

The taphonomic analysis of fauna associated with early human occupations of Santa Marta Cave shows a high incidence of anthropogenic activity in the formation of the cave deposits, although other accumulators contributed to the formation processes. Our findings support subsistence strategies consisting of the exploitation of small- and medium-sized mammals, and aquatic species such as freshwater snails (Pachychilus sp.), swamp turtles (Kinosternon sp.), and crabs, indicating humid conditions favorable for the formation of bodies of water close to the rock shelter. The presence of a bone artifact was recorded, pointing to a bone industry supplementing the use of stone tools in the everyday activities of hunter-gatherer groups. As part of the taphonomic analysis, we explored the use of non-invasive hand-held X-ray fluorescence (XRF) on compact bone, including remains of vertebrates recovered from the stratigraphic sequence of the site, as well as of other recent animals and Homo sapiens.

KEYWORDS:

• Taphonomy
• X-ray fluorescence
• hunter-gatherers
• Pleistocene–Holocene transition
• Neotropics

Acknowledgements

This work was carried out in the framework of a doctoral thesis entitled “Estudio Arqueozoológico de la Cueva de Santa Marta, Chiapas.” Óscar R. Solís-Torres is the beneficiary of a PhD scholarship funded under the Mesoamerican Studies Program at UNAM and supported with financial sponsorship from the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACyT) under Grant 619926. Thanks to Rosa Angeles Nava Cruz (IIA) for her assistance during XRF data processing, Ana Frida Silva Martinez (SLAA) for guidance in the taxonomic identification of bird remains, and María Elena Sánchez for assistance with editing and translating the manuscript into English.

Disclosure statement

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

Notes on contributors

Óscar R. Solís-Torres is currently a PhD candidate in the “Estudios Mesoamericanos” Program at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. He holds a Masters of Philosophy (Quaternary and Prehistory) from the Universitat Roivira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain (Fundación Atapuerca fellowship). He has participated in underwater explorations in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, and in national and international conferences. His research focuses on human–fauna relationships and cultural evolution, using results in future predictions about human responses to climate change, migrations, and the impact of new technologies in environmental settings.

Guillermo Acosta Ochoa is a full-time researcher at the Institute of Anthropological Research (UNAM) and co-responsible for the Laboratory of Human Prehistory and Evolution (IIA). He has directed various projects related to prehistory and American settlement, early agriculture and the development of social complexity; he has developed applications of digital photogrammetry in the registry of archaeological heritage; and he analyzed starch grains in archaeology for the study of early agriculture. He directs the project “The development of agrarian societies in the basin of Mexico,” with the objective of evaluating the role played by communities of the Playa (6000–4500 BC) and Zohapilco (3000–2200 BC) phases in the adoption of sedentary residence and a subsistence system based on agriculture, which characterize the societies of the Formative period.

Joaquín Arroyo-Cabrales works at the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), the Mexican federal agency that takes care of the historical, archaeological, and paleontological heritages, and currently is in charge of the institute’s paleontological collection. He holds a Biological Sciences PhD from Texas Tech University and currently is a member of the Mexican National Researchers System. He has more than 80 indexed publications and has participated in more than 100 national and international conferences. His research focuses on late-Quaternary vertebrates and their contribution to understanding the paleoenvironments in which humans survived in the Americas.

Fabio Flores Granados holds a PhD in Anthropology from the Institute of Anthropological Research of the UNAM, and he is a biologist with the Autonomous Metropolitan University (UAM-Xochimilco). He is a researcher at the Peninsular Center in Humanities and Social Sciences of the UNAM and belongs to the National System of Researchers. He directed the Ethno-entomological study of the peninsular Mayan area, and is responsible for the project PAPIIT 400818 “Traditional zoological knowledge in the south and southeast of Mexico: a diachronic view” (2018–2020). He also directed the projects “Ethnoecology and Mayan Biocultural Heritage” (2012–2014), and “Ethnoecology Biocultural Heritage II” (2015–2017). He coordinates the Permanent Ethnobiology Seminar: “Biocultural Heritage and Knowledge Dialogue” of CEPHCIS, was President of the Board of Directors of the Mexican Ethnobiological Association AC, (2016–2018), and is responsible for the Yucatán Node of the CONACYT thematic network of Biocultural Heritage. His general lines of research are in ethnobiology and zooarchaeology, being the author of the book Apropiación cultural del paisaje natural en la época prehispánica: Hierve el Agua. Results of his research have been published as book chapters or articles in various national and international academic journals. He has taught undergraduate and postgraduate courses at different universities in Mexico and abroad.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología: Grant Number 619926.