HUMAN INTERACTIONS WITH CORMORANTS AND SHAGS (Phalacrocorax spp.) IN PUNTA ENTRADA AND MONTE LEON (SANTA CRUZ, ARGENTINA) DURING THE HOLOCENE

Three archaeological assemblages from Punta Entrada and Monte Ledo National Park (Santa Cruz, Argentina) were studied to assess the importance of cormorants for hunter-gatherers in southern Patagonia over the last 2.000 years. In order to achive this goal, differences between Patagonian cormorant species in nesting habitat use, number of individuals in the breeding areas, and period of the year in which they remain close to them, were considered. Three possible interaction scenarios are proposed: 1) exploitation in nesting areas, 2) capture in their feeding or resting areas, and 3) carcass scavenging on the coast, which are discussed based on the archaeological evidence. The zooarchaeological analysis showed the capture of variable amounts of adult individuals of Phalacrocorax atriceps and P. magellanicus. In the cormorant bone assemblage from Monte Leon no anthropic modifications were recorded, while in those of Punta Entrada, there were cut marks and artifacts made of their bones. In conclusion, it was determined that in Punta Entrada the strategy adopted by hunter-gatherers combined the occasional captures in feeding and resting areas with the gathering of carcasses in the coastline. Given the ambiguity of the evidence in Monte Leon, it will be necessary to have information from other archaeological deposits of the area to advance on the subject in this locality.