Hunter gatherers subsistence

This paper presents a detailed study of animal bones from a Late Dorset house structure and midden at the Bell site, Victoria Island. Previous research has shown seal to be the staple resource of Late Dorset subsistence in most other regions. Bones of terrestrial mammals such as caribou are rarely found in Late Dorset sites, leading researchers to suggest that Late Dorset people may not have been actively hunting caribou or that caribou population numbers were low during the Late Dorset period across much of the eastern Arctic. In contrast to
other sites, faunal remains from the Bell site indicate that Late Dorset people living there were primarily dependent on caribou and Arctic char, and relied only minimally on seal. Thus,
the Bell site presents a rare opportunity to understand terrestrial aspects of the Late Dorset economy.

The main goal of this paper is to highlight regional and temporal variation in the presence and exploitation of faunal resources during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene (ca. 12 000 – 7000 uncalibrated 14C years BP) in the Pampean region (Argentina, South America). The main issues discussed are a summary of archaeological and zooarchaeological evidences (sites, location, chronology, lithic technology, faunal distribution and diversity, etc.) both on a regional and areal scale. The topics included in order to characterize subsistence strategies are the climatic changes that operated on and influenced the species, differential species extinction and survival, exploited species diversity, procurement and processing techniques, and intensity of faunal exploitation. It is proposed that the late Pleistocene-early Holocene period is characterized by a generalized regional economy, as it has also been recently proposed for North America. In general terms, a broad spectrum of resources would have been exploited by humans as suggested by the presence and diversity of consumed species. Given the fluctuating climatic conditions during the transition, a subsistence pattern composed of a broad diet would have been a suitable strategy to promote in unstable environments. Both taxonomic diversity and richness are greater when compared with the following time period (middle Holocene), characterized by a specialized regional economy.

Dental tartar samples from 5 archaeological sites in the
northeast of Buenos Aires province (La Bellarca site 2,
Arroyo Malo, Garín, Arroyo Fredes and Guazunambí) were
compared and analyzed. The samples were obtained from 7
isolated dental pieces and 2 semi-articulated half-mandibles
with 7 pieces each. These analyses were carried out in three
stages. The first stage aimed at determining the potential for
recovering tartar from dental samples from different sites.
For this purpose, the isolated dental pieces were utilized. In
the second stage, based on the fact that one of the isolated
pieces showed a relatively high abundance of remains,
differing methodological processes were compared to
establish the variety of remains that could be extracted, and
the best methods to use for their recovery. The third stage
was focused on qualitative and quantitative comparative
analyses of the dental pieces from the same half-mandible in
order to evaluate variability in the nature of remains
according to the individual’s masticatory mechanics. The
results of the abundance analysis were different in each
piece, from lack of remains entirely to the presence of
phytoliths, other siliceous remains, and organic matter. In the
methodological tests, processing that incorporated both acid
and hydrogen peroxide treatments allowed for the best
recovery of siliceous microremains. Extraction attempts
using only acid treatment worked best for recovering organic
components of tartar samples, while treatment with hydrogen
peroxide caused problems with altering organic matter when
attempting to extract it, and full dispersion of the matrix was
not achieved. The analyses of the related dental pieces
showed differences concerning tartar accumulation in each
piece, as well as a certain degree of variability in abundance
of micro-remains between each group of pieces. Overall, it
was possible to find particular characteristics that could
allow for differentiation between samples.