CAMBIOS COROLÓGICOS DE ALGUNOS MAMÍFEROS EN EL ÁREA INTERSERRANA DE LA PROVINCIA DE BUENOS AIRES DURANTE EL HOLOCENO

Abstract

CHOROLOCICAL CHANCES OF SOME MAMMALS IN THE "ÁREA INTERSERRANA" OF THE BUENOS AIRES PROVINCE DURING THE HOLCENE. - The faunal remains of the archaeological site Cortaderas (San Cayetano county, Buenos Aires province) are analysed. The following species have been recorded: Canis (Pseudalopex) gymnocercus, Canis (Pseudalopex) culpaeus, Lyncodon patagonicus, Lama glama guanicoe, Blastoceros bezoarticus, Chaetophractus villosus, Zaedyas pichiy, Tolypeutes sp. and Ctenomys sp. These remains were found in sediments assigned to the upper part of the Holocene, which corresponds to the most recent climatic variations related to processes derived from eolian, fluvial and paedogenetic action. The chorologíc changes affected patagoníc, relatively euritermic, or central species. The most probable hypothesis is that the aridity process is the product of the reduction of the average rainfall. In this site, as in most of the Interserrana area (both sinchronic and diachronic), guanaco remains are predorninant. Thís enables us to postulate the hypothesis that this species was the main animal protein source during the Holocene before the Spanish Conquest.