Terrestrial and maritime taphonomy: differential effects on spatial distribution of a Late Pleistocene continental drown
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Terrestrial and maritime taphonomy: differential effects on spatial distribution of a Late Pleistocene continental drowned faunal bone assemblage from the Pacific coast of Chile Patricio López 1 & Isabel Cartajena 1 & Diego Carabias 2 & Carla Morales 2 & David Letelier 3 & Valentina Flores 4
Received: 14 February 2015 / Accepted: 21 July 2015 # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015
Abstract Site GNL Quintero 1 (GNLQ1), located on the central coast of Chile, is the only documented Late Pleistocene drowned terrestrial site along the Pacific Coast of South America. Faunal evidence at the site is varied, and so far, remains of the following taxa have been found: extinct Camelidae, Cervidae, Equidae, Mylodontidae, Xenarthra, but also Myocastoridae, Canidae and Octodontidae. Both geological and paleoenvironmental data indicate that GNLQ1 developed in a floodplain or low-energy environment during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Prior to the post-glacial rising of the sea level, the site would have been located several kilometres inland as the paleoshoreline was farther out on the continental shelf. In accordance with this background, the present study addresses the analysis of the spatial distribution of the bone deposits of GNLQ1 by considering both scenarios, the terrestrial phase related to the formation and modification of the fossil assemblage prior to the transgression, and the marine phase, subsequent to inundation. Results indicate modifications related to low-energy flow environment and carnivore activity dominated during the terrestrial phase
* Patricio López [email protected]
and the action of marine organisms during the marine phase. Other taphonomic modifications are not easily attributable to either one or the other environmental context. Keywords Late Pleistocene . Extinct fauna . Taphonomy . Underwater archaeology . Central Chile . South America
Introduction Site GNL Quintero 1, located on the Pacific coast of central Chile (32° S), provides the first conclusive evidence for the existence and preservation of a drowned landscape viable for both extinct megafauna and early human occupation and movement along the Pacific coast of South America during the Late Pleistocene (Carabias et al. 2014:145). Largely undisturbed deposits on the seabed containing a stratigraphic context of continental faunal remains have been systematically studied by research methods and strategies common to sub-
1
Departamento de Antropología, Universidad de Chile and ARQMAR-Centre for Maritime Archaeology Research of the Southeastern Pacific, Ignacio Carrera Pinto 1045, Ñuñoa, Santiago, Chile
2
ÀRKA-Maritime Archaeology and ARQMAR-Centre for Maritime Archaeology Research of the Southeastern Pacific, Casilla 21, 2340000 Valparaíso, Chile
3
ÀRKA-Maritime Archaeology, Casilla 21, 2340000 Valparaíso, Chile
4
Departamento de Geología, Escuela de Ingeniería Civil, Universidad Santo Tomás; Departamento de Geología, Facultad de Ciencias Físicas y Matemáticas, Universidad de Chile and ARQMAR-Centre for M
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