Pinniped Capture and Processing: A comparative Analysis from Beagle Channel (Tierra de Fuego, Argentina)

Abstract

The Beagle Channel is located on the southern coast of the Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego. It was inhabited by maritime hunter-gatherer-fishers from 6400 radiocarbon years BP to the late nineteenth century AD, when the Europeanpermanent settlement in the island began. Archaeological data have shown thatthese human groups had a diversified subsistence focused on marine resources,where pinnipeds provided the greatest amount of calories to the diet (Schiavini 1990, 1993; Orquera and Piana 1999, 2009; Orquera 2005; Zangrando 2003, 2009a, b;Tivoli and Zangrando 2011). However, recent zooarchaeological studies haverevealed variations in the exploitation of resources among these prehistoric people during the Late Holocene: marine and terrestrial mammals decreased in order of importance in later assemblages, fish and bird remains increased in general faunal representation during the last 1500 years (Zangrando 2009a, b; Tivoli 2010a, b; Tivoli and Zangrando 2011). While pinnipeds sex/age profiles and anatomical representation have been studied for the Middle Holocene (Schiavini 1990, 1993; Orquera and Piana 1999), we did not have such data from other archaeological contexts. Most of capture, processing and butchery patterns were not comprehensively analyzed in regional and supra-regional scale (Muñoz 2011). Moreover, the link between the long term changes of diet and exploitation modes of pinnipeds in the Beagle Channel remained unknown. The aim of this study is therefore to evaluate exploitation strategies of pinnipeds excavated from shell middens at two different archaeological localities of the Beagle Channel with different ages: Imiwaia I (Middle Holocene) (Orquera and Piana 1999, 2000; Zangrando 2009a; Tivoli 2010a) and Ajej I (Late Holocene)(Piana et al. 2008). Pinniped capture and processing strategies were previously analyzed at site level in both locations, but a temporal evaluation of these activitiesis still needed.