DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1319106.

Abstract. The Shag burial is located in the Santa Cruz province along the northern coast of the Argentinian Patagonia. The Shag burial site is contained by a structure with annular or ring morphology made out of rocks and approximately 10 m in diameter. The structure was altered by Magellanic penguins that built a nesting well, exposing a series of human bone remains on the surface. There is no record of similar mortuary structures within Patagonia. This paper presents a number of data including absolute radiocarbon dates, the plan of the structure, bioanthropological determinations, stable isotope studies of δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N, and taphonomic analyses of the bone remains. The site is interpreted to as a hunter-gatherers mortuary structure dated to the Late Holocene. The isotopic studies on the individual allow us to infer a varied diet, in which both marine and terrestrial food products were consumed.

Keywords: Mortuary practices, Hunter-gatherers, Late Holocene, Stable isotopes, Argentinian Patagonia.

Reference:

Zilio, L. 2017.
Primeras investigaciones sobre una estructura mortuoria singular de cazadores-recolectores en la Patagonia argentina: el entierro Shag. Arqueología Iberoamericana 33: 57-63.
http://purl.org/aia/337.

Publication date: March 16, 2017.