THE CAMELIDS OF A DOMESTIC AGRO-POTTERY CONTEXT IN MENDOZA

This study is part of a thesis work on zooarchaeological remains from the domestic context found in San Ignacio in the Potrerillos Valley (Mendoza) during the early-middle period of the regional sequence. From the bone assemblage identified at family level as Camelidae, the first, second and third fused phalanges were selected, both complete and fragmented and without evidence of thermo-alterations or pathologies. Osteometric analysis and statistical tests such as Conglomerate and Principal Component Analysis were applied in order to determine the taxonomic identification of the different camelid species at the site, and different camelid morphotypes, both wild and domestic, were identified. The results obtained and discussions generated provide relevant information, from an evolutionary ecological perspective, for the reconstruction of the economic subsistence strategy adopted by the human groups that inhabited the site. This is characterized by a mixed character, i.e., extractive (hunting) and productive (livestock) practices were maintained. In addition, there is evidence of the presence of a morphotype especially