New findings of mollusk shells in the interior of Santa Cruz Province: Contributions to the discussion of their use and circulation in Southern Patagonia

Twenty-one shell elements from different archaeological contexts in the interior of Santa Cruz province are analyzed in this paper, considerably increasing the existing sample for Southern Patagonia. Their characteristics and distribution are discussed in relation to the information available regarding the forms of exploitation and circulation of mollusk shells on a regional scale. In spatial terms, the results reinforce the pattern defined for the Late Holocene in the region which indicates a more limited dispersion for the remains of volutes with respect to beads and other mollusk classes. New information is provided for the technomorphological characterization of artifacts made from Volutidae shells, and the southernmost finding recorded to date for beads made from the terrestrial gastropod Megalobulimus sp. is reported.