Abstract: In this paper, a model of carnivore taphonomic action in the Argentinean Puna is applied to archaeological site Inca Cueva-cueva 4, on the Eastern Fringe of the Puna East of the Andes cordillera, which contains hunter–gatherer occupations dating to the early and middle Holocene. Different indicators, such as the low levels of bone modifications (ca. 2 to 8% NISP), consisting mainly in subtle marks, suggest a low intensity of the intervention of carnivores during the formation of these deposits. Variables such as the frequency of carnivore scats attest to repeated carnivore visits to the cave, but the “dilution effect” upon the small faunal assemblages these carnivores tend to accumulate in a context of larger zooarchaeological assemblages would have faded their traces away. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]