ESTUDIOS DE PROCEDENCIA (SUBMAREAL/INTERMAREAL) DE MEJILLONES (MYTILUS PLATENSIS) EN LA LOCALIDAD ARQUEOLOGICA FARO SAN MATIAS (GOLFO SAN MATIAS, RIO NEGRO)

Abstract

Mussels are one of the marine resources most used in the past and very frequent to find in the archeomalacological record of coastal areas. On the North Patagonian Atlantic coast, the common mussel, Mytilus platensis, is record both as an archaeological evidence of its past use and as living populations in shallow waters. The objective of this work is to explore a methodology to recognize areas of harvesting of this malacological resource in the past and infer modes of exploitation. The methodological approach is supported by the analysis of the allometric relationships of whole valves from ten shell-middens from the archaeological site Faro San Matías (Río Negro) in comparison with those collected currently in intertidal and subtidal littoral zones of the San Matías Gulf. Shells of the subtidal zone register a different allometric growth pattern with respect to the intertidal ones and, consequently, it is possible to discriminate the zone of provenance of the specimens. Thus, the pattern observed in the current valves (n = 216) allows us to infer the collection sector in the archaeological ones (n = 932), to which other biological criteria can be added. As a result of this study, it has been observed that the valves of three shell-middens of the Locality San Matías suggest mixing of collection areas, intertidal and subtidal, while those of four other shell-middens would indicate a subtidal provenance. Finally, these data are discussed from statistical tests to establish discriminant values between the valves and to approach the procurement strategies during the late Holocene in this coast.