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Provenance studies (subtidal / intertidal) of mussels (mytilus platensis) in faro san matías archaeological locality (San Matías Gulf, Río Negro, Argentina)

Abstract:

Mussels are one of the most used marine resources in the past and very frequent in the archaeomalacological record of coastal areas. On the North Patagonian Atlantic coast, the common mussel, Mytilus platensis, is recorded both as an archaeological evidence of its past consumption and as living populations in shallow waters. The objective of this work is to explore a methodology to recognize harvesting areas of this malacological resource in the past and infer modes of exploitation. The methodological approach is supported by the analysis of the allometric relationships of whole valves from ten shell-middens from the archaeological locality Faro San Matías (Río Negro) in comparison with those collected currently in intertidal and subtidal littoral zones of the San Matías Gulf. Shells of the subtidal zone present a different allometric growth pattern with respect to the intertidal ones and, consequently, it is possible to discriminate the zone of provenance of the specimens. Thus, the pattern observed in the current valves (n=216) allows us to infer the collection sector in the archaeological ones (n=932), to which other biological criteria can be added. As a result of this study, it has been observed that the valves of three shell-middens of the locality Faro San Matías suggest mixing of collection areas, intertidal and subtidal, while those of another four shell-middens would indicate a subtidal provenance. Finally, these data are discussed with statistical tests to establish discriminant values among the valves and to approach the procurement strategies used during the Late Holocene in this coast.