Archaeozoology and use of space in Lake Cardiel, Santa Cruz province, in the Patagonia steppe, Argentina

The faunal remains from late Holocene hUnter-gatherer archaeological sites in lake Cardiel, in the Patagonian steppe, Argentina -especially from the last 3000 years are presented. Taking into account the taphonomic processes and agents that may have affected the fossil record, this zooarchaeological approach aims at contributing, as an independent line of evidence, to the study of the spatial patterns of Patagonian hunter-gatherer behaviour. Differential processes and preservation states were observed in connection with diverse depositional environments. Anatomical part frequencies and human modes of bone modification are related to the different steps in the carcass reduction sequence and can be linked to differential uses of the regional landscape by prehistoric hunters. These differences are interpreted as a function of environmental diversity.