Artículos de revistas
Experimental micromorphology in Tierra del Fuego (Argentina): building a reference collection for the study of shell middens in cold climates
Fecha
2011Registro en:
JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SCIENCE, v.38, n.3, p.588-604, 2011
0305-4403
10.1016/j.jas.2010.10.013
Autor
VILLAGRAN, Ximena S.
BALBO, Andrea L.
MADELLA, Marco
VILA, Assumpcio
ESTEVEZ, Jordi
Institución
Resumen
Commonly used in archaeological contexts, micromorphology did not see a parallel advance in the field of experimental archaeology. Drawing from early work conducted in the 1990`s on ethnohistoric sites in the Beagle Channel, we analyze a set of 25 thin sections taken from control features and experimental tests. The control features include animal pathways and environmental contexts (beach samples, forest litter, soils from the proximities of archaeological sites), while the experimental samples comprise anthropic structures, such as hearths, and valves of Mytilus edulis (the most important component of shell middens in the region) heated from 200 degrees C to 800 degrees C. Their micromorphological study constitutes a modern analogue to assist archaeologists studying site formation and ethnographical settings in cold climates, with particular emphasis on shell midden contexts. (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.