Despiece de microroedores en el Holoceno Tardío de las Sierras de Tandilia (Argentina)

Abstract

1823 remains of the wild cavids Cavia aperea and Galea tixiensis were analyzed in the late Holocene (ca. 1,000 BP.) sites of Cueva Tixi and Cueva El Abra, Tandilia Range, Argentina. These bones feature cut-marks carried out with lithic instruments and exhibit a well defined pattern. A simple sequence of butchering based on the location, frequency and function of the cuts reveals careful skinning for later skin use and defleshing of the animals. In this process neither the marrow was consumed nor the carcass dismembered. The use of animals so small is unusual in the Pampean Region and only comparable to the use of rodents by the northern Selk´nam people of Tierra del Fuego. It is concluded that in very small species (i.e.,<1 Kg) size is a variable that offers new possibilities to the butcher, because the fragility of the skeleton allows one to ignore the articulations as a constriction to guide the reduction of the carcasses.