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Decreased foraging return in shellfishing? Species composition and shell size of blue mussel (Mytilus edulis) from a Late Holocene site of the South Coast of Tierra del Fuego
- Source :
- Quaternary International. 427:160-169
- Publication Year :
- 2017
- Publisher :
- Elsevier BV, 2017.
-
Abstract
- This paper presents a systematic analysis of the shellfish assemblages recovered from Heshkaia 35, an archaeological site located in the southern tip of South America. Possible arguments concerning to environmental variations and resource depression are considered in an attempt to explain taxa composition and shell size. Results are also discussed in light of expectations based on optimal foraging models and taking into account other factors beyond biological parameters. Shellfishing activities were focused on small mussels, with statistical significant changes in mean shell size along the archaeological sequence of the site. Current knowledge about past variations in sea surface temperature does not seem to explain changes in shell size. Gathering of small mussels appears to be the corollary of resource depression at a local scale. This interpretation reinforces arguments that foraging decisions would have derived from territorial packing on the southeastern coast of Tierra del Fuego during the Late Holocene. Fil: Zangrando, Atilio Francisco Javier. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas; Argentina Fil: Pinto Vargas, German. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas; Argentina Fil: Tivoli, Angelica Montserrat. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas; Argentina
- Subjects :
- Historia y Arqueología
010506 paleontology
RESOURCE DEPRESSION
Foraging
SHELL FRAGMENTATION
01 natural sciences
Tierra
Arqueología
Optimal foraging theory
HUMANIDADES
ALLOMETRIC ANALYSIS
0601 history and archaeology
SHELL MIDDEN
Holocene
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
Earth-Surface Processes
060102 archaeology
biology
Ecology
SHELLFISH EXPLOITATION
06 humanities and the arts
biology.organism_classification
Mytilus
HUNTER-GATHERERS
Sea surface temperature
Geography
Taxon
Blue mussel
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 10406182
- Volume :
- 427
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Quaternary International
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....733c27aa78374f8fc08020fb194d2f1f