Between space and time: Naturalist taphonomic observations of lesser rhea (Rhea pennata pennata) remains in southern patagonia and its archaeological implications

Abstract

The results of taphonomic observations of modern bones of lesser rhea, a large flightless bird, endemic to South America, are presented. The aim was to know the sequence of disarticulation and destruction of bone elements of this species, as a means to interpret and understand the anatomical frequencies in zooarcheological assemblages. The results obtained in a wide spatial or landscape scale are combined with those of longitudinal or long-term observations of naturally deposited lesser rhea carcasses. These bird remains are scarce in the archaeological deposits of the region, while exhibiting an anatomical representation in which the elements of the hindlimbs predominate. Actualistic observations showed a similar representation in modern natural assemblages, in which the joints that last longer include the pelvis/sacrum-hindlimbs, and hindlimbs elements from each other. The latter are the last to be destroyed. That is to say that two different processes, natural recycling and the human action of selective transport, can result in the same representation pattern of skeletal parts of Rhea pennata pennata, which poses a problem of equifinality that is difficult to solve.