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Previous research on intensification in hunter gatherer strategies from Central West Argentina ca. 2000 years BP states that human demographic packing and overhunting of guanacos ( Lama guanicoe ) may have caused resource depression of this large prey animal. As a result, people broadened their diet to include smaller prey animals. Evidence supporting this conclusion includes an increase in Shannon's Diversity Index and a decrease in the abundance of artiodactyl remains over time in southern Mendoza. However, these studies about change in diet breadth did not consider the importance of spatial scale on analysis of prey choice and diet breadth and used the entire region as a unit of analysis. This is problematic because southern Mendoza has a heterogeneous landscape. In this paper we analyze different faunal abundance indices considering different spatial scales and the representativeness of the zooarchaeological samples. The results of the analyses show distinctive patterns of resource use over time at the macro- and subregional scales. Some of the difference can be explained by environmental differences between subregions and others might relate to differences in sample representativeness between subregions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Expectations for survival of vertebrate remains have been well developed and intensely studied in the zooarchaeological taphonomic literature. Taphonomic studies of shellfish remains focus on marine species and on variables relevant to remains from paleontological contexts (e.g., fossil marine beds). In this paper we develop a conceptual framework from which to derive expectations concerning the preservation of freshwater mussel remains focusing on two parameters, shell microstructure and shell shape. Shell size does not influence survivorship. Our model is validated through application to late Holocene zooarchaeological mussel assemblages from north Texas. Taphonomically robust species are important regarding zooarchaeological and biogeographic interpretations based on mussel paleofaunas, and fragile species are important indicators of whether or not an assemblage is well preserved. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Biometry is useful for a suite of analyses relevant to zooarchaeology, which include analysis of mortality profiles, taphonomy, paleoecology, among other purposes. Here, size-age prediction models are developed for 10 freshwater mussel species found in north Texas to develop a method for studying paleoenvironmental conditions. Shell length is often used to evaluate the structures of modern mussel populations, but its use on paleozoological specimens is not feasible because complete shells rarely preserve. Instead, pallial line-to-lateral teeth length (PLL) and pseudocardinal teeth-to-pallial line length (PSP) are evaluated as proxy measures for shell length. Linear regression models based on PLL and PSP using modern mussels demonstrate that they are accurate proxies of shell length for multiple species from a variety of habitats. In addition, ontogenetic-age structures for a modern sample and for two late Holocene assemblages from north Texas are developed using PLL and PSP. These techniques are useful tools for evaluating past ecological conditions of freshwater mussel populations when large samples are available for study, which expands analytical potential of zooarchaeological studies of prehistoric unionid remains. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Ursid mortality data have long been used to evaluate associations between cave-bear remains (Ursus deningeri and U. spelaeus) and hominin (Homo sp.) remains. Typically, such ursid assemblages produce mortality patterns that indicate that juvenile and old bears died during hibernation, a pattern that is used to suggest that humans and bears occupied the same caves at different times. However, a different kind of mortality pattern can also be used to suggest human influence on cave bears, particularly under circumstances when bears and humans compete for habitat. In particular, data from Lawson Cave and Jerry Long Cave, Missouri indicate that young-adult North American black bears (Ursus americanus) are prone to capture in natural-trap caves. Similar faunal data from Sima de los Huesos in Spain, where cave-bear and hominin remains are found in the same deposit, might also suggest that the bears died from falling into a natural trap. It is concluded that mortality analysis of ursid remains from caves is a useful tool with which to evaluate accumulation histories of cave deposits and relations between humans, artifacts, and cave-bear remains. In particular, ursid mortality data are relevant to the Kurtén Response, a hypothesis reiterated in the recent literature that implicates human encroachment on ursid habitat (e.g., cave den sites) as a potential cause in cave-bear extinction. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Despite the growing body of evidence demonstrating that proteins can survive for thousands to even millions of years in selected contexts, there are relatively few examples of the successful recovery and identification of archaeological protein residues from ceramic artifacts. Claims of positive results are sometimes contentious and frequently challenged. One source of confusion in the debate is a general lack of consideration for the taphonomic histories of ceramic-bound proteins. To gain insight into this issue, we conducted an integrated, mass spectrometry-based study examining ceramic-bound protein that was experimentally aged over the course of 12 months. Results demonstrate the rapid degradation of proteins, raise questions about the degree to which ceramic-bound proteins can be expected to survive over time, and reveal some of the limitations of non-targeted mass spectrometry-based analyses. Further, by comparing results from our experimentally-aged samples to the those we obtained from a multi-pronged study of archaeological ceramics from the American Southwest, we are able to draw more confident conclusions regarding our lack of meaningful matches in the archaeological samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zooarchaeologists have relied upon various approaches to study the impacts of harvest pressure and environmental change on ungulate populations, such as analysis of prey mortality patterns and morphometrics. Analysis of ancient DNA from ungulate bones and bone fragments from archaeological sites provides an additional means for studying prey population dynamics related to environmental change and human ecology over time. In this paper, we study the population history of the largest game animal in northwest Patagonia, the guanaco (Lama guanicoe). Our study relies on the use of Bayesian Skyline Plots to determine shifts in estimated guanaco population size based on analysis of ancient mitochondrial DNA. Our results indicate that hunting by humans in addition to increases in aridity during the late Holocene led to a decline in the guanaco population in the region, which is in contrast to the harvest and environmental history in other parts of Patagonia (south of our study area). Using a weight of evidence approach that includes proxies of environmental change, human population dynamics, exploitation of guanacos, and estimates of guanaco population size, we argue that the late Holocene shift in guanaco population size was a driving factor in subsistence and settlement change related to resource intensification during the late Holocene in northwest Patagonia. • Demographic reconstruction of guanaco population dynamics during the Holocene. •Estimated population size is based on ancient DNA analysis through Next Generation Sequencing. •There are key changes in guanaco population size during the late Holocene. •Late Holocene guanaco population relates to increased hunting pressure in northwest Patagonia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]