6th International Anthracology Meeting (Freiburg • Germany • 30th August to 6th September 2015)
MULTIPROXY STUDY OF PLANT REMAINS FROM CERRO CASA DE PIEDRA 7 (PATAGONIA, ARGENTINA) Laura Caruso Fermé¹, Nadia J. Velázquez², A. Cecilia Martínez Tosto³, Cristina Yagueddú³, L. Susana Burry4 and M. Teresa Civalero5
¹IDEAus-CONICET.Bv. Puerto Madryn, Chubut (Argentina)
[email protected] 2CONICET-UNMdP.Laboratorio de Palinología y Bioantropología, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (Argentina)
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4
UNMdP. Laboratorio de Botánica, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata (Argentina)
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UNMdP. Laboratorio de Palinología y Bioantropología, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, (Argentina)
[email protected] 5
InstitutoNacional de Antopología y Pensamiento Latinoamericano (Buenos Aires) Argentina.
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The study of micro and macrobotanical remains allow to infer about vegetation type and to know the role of vegetable resources in the economy of a society. However, despite presence of plant remains from archaeological contexts represents a great potential for paleoenvironmental reconstructions and assessing past human behavior, its study as a whole is still rare in Patagonian hunter-gatherer archaeological research. The objectives of this work are the integral study of micro and macrobotanical remains, the assessing of taxonomic resolution levels and the contribution offered by each type of proxies. For this purpose, micro and macrobotanical remains (pollen and small plant remains) of human and camelids coprolites, and macrobotanical remains of sediments (wood and charcoal) coming from three stratigraphic levels dated by 14C and resulting in ages of 9,640 ± 190 years BP, 8,380± 120 years BP and 6,150 ± 105 years BP, of the site Cerro Casa de Piedra 7 were analysed. The results of this study show different taxonomic resolutions. Coprolite pollen analysis allowed the identification of Nothofagus sp., whereas macroremains analysis evidenced the presence of N. pumilio and N. antarctica species. Furthermore, Poaceae pollen was determined whereas microhistological analysis allowed the identification of several species of Poaceae. Also Apiaceae pollen was identified and Azorella monantha were determined by microhistological analysis. The analyses performed in this study enriched the floristic list for each stratigraphic level. These results show the value of multiproxy studies for the integral study of archaeological sites.
Keywords: charcoal and wood, plant remains, Pollen analysis, Hunter-gatherers, Patagonia.
