Clara Otaola

Clara Otaola
National Scientific and Technical Research Council | conicet · IDEVEA-CONICET. UTN-San Rafael.UnCUYO

PhD in Archaeology, UBA

About

76
Publications
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1,015
Citations
Additional affiliations
January 2008 - July 2015
National Scientific and Technical Research Council
Position
  • Researcher
Education
January 2001 - March 2013
University of Buenos Aires
Field of study
  • Anthropology

Publications

Publications (76)
Article
This article examines the dietary patterns of herders in central-western Argentina, known as puesteros (local herders). We investigate how changes in land use, urbanization, and hunting restrictions have affected traditional puestero herding practices and the contributions of wild and domesticated animals to their diets. The study focuses on two re...
Chapter
The aim of this chapter is to explore temporal changes in the ecological niches of different species of camelids by establishing their isotopic niches. Camelids were the main animal resource for most human populations that inhabited the South American continent in the past. The purpose is to explore if the current populations of camelids have diffe...
Article
The Lesser Rhea (Rhea pennata), a large flightless bird native to South America, held historical significance as a vital resource for Patagonian hunter-gatherer societies. Despite the species’ cultural and ecological importance, the historical population dynamics of R. pennata remain poorly understood. Although present in the archaeological record,...
Article
Full-text available
Resumen Los estudios distribucionales en el valle del Diamante, Mendoza, permitieron la comparación del uso del espacio entre zonas ecológicas, con robustos resultados en cordillera y piedemonte. Los análisis de densidades de materiales y organización lítica posibilitaron detectar canteras de basaltos, rocas criptocristalinas y otras rocas en ambas...
Article
Full-text available
En este trabajo presentamos los resultados de la prueba piloto del muestreo sistemático en la cuenca distal del río Diamante, en su desembocadura en el sistema fluvial Desaguadero-Salado. Se analizan los distintos elementos del paisaje y su relación con la presencia de registro arqueológico. Se observan también las relaciones entre registro de prec...
Article
Full-text available
Se presentan los resultados de la observación controlada de cáscaras de huevos de Rheidae y de una carcasa completa de Zaedyus pichiy depositadas en un corral de experimentación tafonómica. El objetivo de este trabajo es comparar el grado y velocidad de entierro y destrucción de ambos tipos de registros. En el caso del armadillo, analizamos las dif...
Article
Full-text available
The aim of this paper is to study the use of ceramics of small-scale societies during the late Holocene in northern Patagonia. The technological investment model predicts that use-time and utility will determine the investment spent in ceramics. We explore how ceramics were used in short-term camps and aggregation sites during summer at high elevat...
Article
This paper presents the results of a study on the isotopic ecology of guanacos in central western Argentina. We examine the historical population ecology of guanacos using stable isotope analysis of bone collagen from pre-Hispanic and modern guanaco populations (n = 129), considering variability in two ecoregions: the Monte hot desert and the Andea...
Article
In this paper, we focus on the results of the archaeological research in the Diamante Valley, the southernmost limit of the expansion of agriculture, sedentary societies, and the Inka empire (Fig. 1). We conducted the first fieldwork in this area involving random surface sampling, followed by test pits in open-air sites. Our analyses show changes...
Article
Pumas are American top predators that commonly frequent places that may also be inhabited by humans. With the aim of contributing to the evaluation of the accumulating processes and agents of vertebrate remains of archaeological and paleontological sites, we analyzed a modern puma scat-derived vertebrate bone assemblage from an area of the central...
Article
In this paper we explore obsidian conveyance in the Diamante Valley, in northwestern Patagonia, Argentina. Obsidian is the third most-common toolstone used in the Diamante Valley after basalts and local cryptocrystallines. Obsidian artifacts are predominantly projectile points and bifaces, with few cores and early-stage reduction debris. To explain...
Article
Full-text available
The south of Mendoza province has been characterized as the southern frontier of South American pre-Hispanic agriculture on the eastern slope of the Andes. This characterization has been based on the presence of crops at the archaeological sites and adopting a dichotomic perception of hunter-gatherers and farmers. During the last few decades, the a...
Chapter
Full-text available
Ethnographic studies and ethnohistoric literature from the south of South America showed strong interest in Rheas (Rhea americana and Rhea pennata) consumption. The Chronicles from numerous explorers of the nineteenth century mentioned different aspects of the exploitation of these birds by Native American people from South America, as well as by r...
Article
Full-text available
In this paper we explore how changes in human strategies are differentially modulated by climate in a border area between hunter-gatherers and farmers. We analyze multiple proxies: radiocarbon summed probability distributions (SPDs), stable C and N isotopes, and zooarchaeological data from northwestern Patagonia. Based on these proxies, we discuss...
Article
El registro arqueológico de cazadores-recolectores localizado en ambientes de altura ha sido ampliamente debatido en la literatura mundial. Las discusiones se han centrado en su funcionalidad, cronología, complementariedad con ambientes bajos y significado en los procesos de poblamiento de distintas regiones. Los Andes meridionales cuentan con un a...
Article
This paper explores how significant are the ecological and climatic variables to influence the stable isotopes of guanacos. Lama guanicoe bone collagen carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios are assumed as a macro regional average value in west Argentina, mostly as a baseline to model archaeological human diet. If stable isotopes on mammals refl...
Poster
Full-text available
Northwest Patagonia was inhabited by hunter gatherers until historic times with evidence of “farming islands” in the north sector (mostly Diamante and Atuel River). Until recent times the human evolutionary trajectory had been focused in a coarse grained temporal resolution, using multi millennial units. This poster explores the archaeological reco...
Poster
Full-text available
Presentamos el estado actual de los estudios tafonómicos actualísticos cuyo objetivo es entender los procesos involucrados en la formación del registro arqueológico de la cuenca del río Diamante, Mendoza. El mismo acompaña un proyecto de investigación en el área enfocado al estudio de las ocupaciones humanas durante el Holoceno en tres unidades bio...
Data
Nos ponemos en contacto nuevamente para contarles las últimas novedades acerca de la organización de las VII Jornadas Arqueológicas Cuyanas (JAC). Estamos muy contentos de poder tenerlos a todos en la ciudad de Malargüe para discutir los últimos trabajos desarrollados en la región y compartir momentos gratos con amigos. En esta circular les hacemos...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Estimados colegas y amigos: Nos ponemos en contacto nuevamente para contarles las últimas novedades acerca de la organización de las VII Jornadas Arqueológicas Cuyanas (JAC). Estamos muy contentos de poder tenerlos a todos en la ciudad de Malargüe para discutir los últimos trabajos desarrollados en la región y compartir momentos gratos con amigos....
Book
Full-text available
La aplicación de isótopos estables en la investigación arqueológica y en paleociencias ha tenido un crecimiento exponencial durante los últimos años en todo el mundo, y América del sur no fue la excepción. Una muestra de los comienzos del creciente uso, fue la organización durante 2006 en la ciudad de Malargüe del Taller de Arqueología e Isótopos E...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
El II Taller de Arqueología e Isotopos Estables en el Sur de Sudamérica se llevará a cabo entre el 1 y el 3 de noviembre del corriente año, en el Complejo Tecnológico Los Reyunos de la Universidad Tecnológica Nacional, Facultad Regional San Rafael (http://www.reyunos.utn.edu.ar/) La reunión tiene como principal objetivo debatir acerca de las distin...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
La aplicación de isótopos estables en la investigación arqueológica y en paleociencias ha tenido un crecimiento exponencial durante los últimos años en todo el mundo, y América del sur no fue la excepción. Una muestra de los comienzos del creciente uso, fue la organización durante 2006 en la ciudad de Malargüe del Taller de Arqueología e Isótopos E...
Article
Full-text available
p>En este trabajo se presentan los resultados iniciales de un proyecto de investigación arqueológica para la cuenca del río Diamante, provincia de Mendoza y se realiza una síntesis de la información disponible. Como objetivo general y de largo plazo, buscamos analizar si hubo una disminución en la movilidad residencial y una ampliación en la varied...
Article
Full-text available
Test excavations were conducted at Risco de los Indios (RDLI), a site at 2480 masl with 29 residential features and a well-developed midden containing abundant floral, faunal, lithic, and ceramic materials. Analyses indicate the site was intensively used ca. 500 cal b.p. as a residential base for groups focused on hunting guanaco, supplemented by l...
Research
Full-text available
Primera Circular La aplicación de isótopos estables en la investigación arqueológica y en paleociencias ha tenido un creciente desarrollo en todo el mundo. Este impulso reciente de investigaciones que incluyen información isotópica en el sur de Sudamérica, junto a la complejización metodológica de esta línea de investigación, genera la necesidad de...
Article
Full-text available
Se presentan los resultados de los trabajos de campo en el sitio arqueológico Risco de los Indios, localizado en la cuenca alta del río Diamante a unos 2.400 m s.n.m. El sitio reúne un total de veintinueve estructuras habitacionales pircadas y fue fechado en ca. 500 años AP. Las características generales de Risco de los Indios sugieren que es un si...
Article
Full-text available
ZOOARCHAEOLOGY AND TAPHONOMY OF CONTEMPORARY RANCHERS FROM SOUTHERN MENDOZA. The puesteros of central west of Argentina are traditional ranchers and pastoralists who live in the plains and range up into the Andes. In this paper, we analyze the puestero´s faunal consumption from a zooarchaeological and taphonomical perspectives. The analyses are cen...
Article
Full-text available
The causes of Late Pleistocene megafaunal extinctions (60,000 to 11,650 years ago, hereafter 60 to 11.65 ka) remain contentious, with major phases coinciding with both human arrival and climate change around the world. The Americas provide a unique opportunity to disentangle these factors as human colonization took place over a narrow time frame (~...
Article
The puesteros of central west of Argentina are traditional ranchers and pastoralists who live in the plains and range up into the Andes. In this paper, we analyze the puestero's faunal consumption from a zooarchaeological and taphonomical perspectives. The analyses are centered on the differential consumption of wild, domestic, and purchased fauna....
Article
Full-text available
Taphonomic studies aid in understanding the transition of organic matter from living contexts (the biosphere) to geological contexts (the lithosphere), and how agents and processes affect skeletal remains in the archaeological record. Archaeological research in the Atuel River valley, Mendoza, Argentina, has been carried out for several years. Howe...
Article
Full-text available
Different but complementary foraging adaptations existed in the Payunia volcanic and the Andean highland (or mountain) subregions of southern Mendoza, Argentina during the late Holocene. We employ an evolutionary ecological perspective to study the zooarchaeology of foraging adaptations after 4000 BP. Seasonal exploitation of guanaco (Lama guanicoe...
Research
Full-text available
Se presentan los resúmenes enviados a las VI Jornadas Arqueológicas Cuyanas que se desarrollarán entre los días 29 deseptiembrey1° de octubre del 2015 en el Centro Tecnológico de desarrollo Regional UTN Los Reyunos. San Rafael, Mendoza.
Article
Full-text available
RESUMEN En esta contribución se presenta el análisis zooarqueológico y arqueobotánico de los materiales hallados en el sitio Cueva Palulo, localizado en las márgenes de un arroyo tributario del río Atuel, en el sur de la pro-vincia de Mendoza. Los materiales fueron analizados considerando problemáticas de índole regional, como el proceso de intensi...
Article
In this article the results of the analyses carried out at archaeological site LS-3 are presented. This site is located in the Andean portion of southern Mendoza and has an earliest date of 2000 years BP. It is contemporary with an intensification process proposed for the region, which implied the incorporation of new areas within mobility systems...
Article
Full-text available
Many cultural and natural processes form the archaeological record. Taphonomy, the study of the transition of organic matter from living contexts (the biosphere) to geological contexts (the lithosphere), aids in understanding how agents and processes affect skeletal remains in the archaeological record. In this paper the results of an actualistic t...
Article
Full-text available
RESUMEN En este artículo presentamos los resultados del análisis del sitio arqueológico LS-3, localizado en la porción cordillerana del sur de Mendoza. Este posee una antigüedad máxima de 2000 años AP, por lo tanto es con-temporáneo a momentos en los que se ha registrado un proceso de intensificación. Para entonces se observa la incorporación de nu...
Article
Full-text available
This study uses stable isotope data to improve our understanding of human exploitation of Llancanelo lagoon, a saline lake and wetland located between the Monte and Patagonian deserts of Mendoza, Argentina. We collect stable C, N, and O isotope data from human remains from the eastern and northern margins of Llancanelo and compare them with C and N...
Article
Previous researches have examined the zooarchaeological record to understand changes in human diet in central western Argentina through time. This research has focused on variations in the relative abundance of large prey in archaeofaunal contexts. The observed changes were explained by a decrease in residential mobility, forced by both the intensi...
Article
Full-text available
This study uses stable isotope data to improve our understanding of human exploitation of Llancanelo lagoon, a saline lake and wetland located between the Monte and Patagonian deserts of Mendoza, Argentina. We collect stable C, N, and O isotope data from human remains from the eastern and northern margins of Llancanelo and compare them with C and N...
Article
In this contribution, previous proposals about an intensification process in resource exploitation in Southern Mendoza Andean Cordillera are reconsidered. The studies of variations in faunal consumption are specially emphasized taking into consideration an aspect that was not considered previously: the taphonomic process. The results of such analys...
Book
Libro que compila los trabajos realizados producto de las VIII Jornadas de Arqueología de la Patagonia, realizadas en la ciudad de Malargüe entre el 3 y el de 7 de octubre de 2011
Article
Full-text available
Recibido 26 de julio 2011. Aceptado 2 de enero 2012 RESUMEN Los frutos de Prosopis spp. son una importante fuente de alimento tanto para los humanos como para los animales debido a su alto valor nutricional, cuyos componentes clave se encuentran distribuidos en el fruto. Mientras que los carbohidratos se presentan en el mesocarpo, las proteínas se...
Article
Full-text available
In this contribution, previous proposals about an intensification process in resource exploitation in Southern Mendoza Andean Cordillera are reconsidered. The studies of variations in faunal consumption are specially emphasized taking into consideration an aspect that was not considered previously: the taphonomic process. The results of such analys...
Article
Mesquite fruits Prosopis spp. are an important food resource for both humans and animals due to their high nutritional value, but key dietary components are unevenly distributed within the fruit. While carbohydrates occur in the soft, outer mesocarpo, proteins are found in the much harder seeds. This raises the potential for differences in processi...
Article
Full-text available
RESUMEN: En este artículo se presenta la información sobre el aprovechamiento de médula y grasa ósea de dos sitios arqueológicos de la región cordillerana del sur mendocino. El objetivo de este análisis es indagar si se observan cambios sustanciales en el aprovechamiento de estos recursos en momentos en los que se ha planteado la existencia de un p...
Article
Full-text available
In this paper information about grease and marrow exploitation is analyzed for two archaeological sites from southern Mendoza. The aim of this study is to search for changes in the use of these resources during the intensification process stated for the region. In addition, we want to assess if the incorporation of ceramics for that moment also imp...
Article
In this paper information about grease and marrow exploitation is analyzed for two archaeological sites from southern Mendoza. The aim of this study is to search for changes in the use of these resources during the intensification process stated for the region. In addition, we want to assess if the incorporation of ceramics for that moment also imp...
Chapter
Full-text available
IntroduccIón En las primeras publicaciones sobre la arqueología del sur de Mendoza las evidencias faunísticas no formaban parte de las problemáticas de investigación ni se incluían dentro de las discusiones sobre la vida de las sociedades humanas que habitaron esta región. La importancia que se le atribuía a las mismas radicaba úni-camente en la id...
Article
Full-text available
Se presentan los resultados del análisis arqueofaunístico del sitio arqueológico Agua de la Cueva (sector sur), en el lapso temporal comprendido entre ca. 11,000 y 5000 a.P. Los materiales analizados indican una escasa diversidad de taxa, con un fuerte predominio de Lama guanicoe en todos los componentes. Las diferencias principales entre las ocupa...
Article
Full-text available
L a ocupación humana durante el Pleistoceno Final-Holoceno Temprano, aquí definido entre ca. 12,000 a 8000 a.P, es un tema de fuerte debate en la arqueología de los Andes meri-dionales (Borrero 2002; Cornejo y Saavedra 2003; García 2003a, 2003b; García y Lagiglia 1999; Gil et al. 1998; Labarca 2005; Long et al. 1998; López et al. 2005; Neme y Gil 2...
Chapter
Full-text available
Presentamos un análisis sobre la aplicabilidad de un modelo tafonómico en el que se considera la preservación diferencial de los distintos elementos esqueletarios separándolos en dos sets analíticos: de alto y bajo potencial de supervivencia. En este modelo se considera la importancia de tener en cuenta los procesos post depositacionales que sufren...
Article
Full-text available
Las medidas obtenidas a partir de huesos del esqueleto apendicular de camélidos sudamericanos han sido utilizadas en los últimos años como insumo básico para interpretar distintos aspectos relacionados con su asignación especifica, manejo de rebaños y estrategias económicas, entre otros. La forma y el tamaño de los huesos han sido interpretados com...
Article
Full-text available
The measurements obtained from South American camelids appendicular skeleton bones have been used in recent years as a benchmark for interpreting different aspects of archaeological studies. The shape and size of bones have been linked to various factors which may be related to environmental restrictions and human management. This is of great impor...
Chapter
Full-text available
A zooarchaelogical analysis of the assemblage from Chorrillo Malo 2 site is presented. The faunal and taphonomic results are interpreted on the basis of previous information from different lines of evidence. In this paper we evaluate, from a zooarchaeological perspective, the intensity of human occupations in the rockshelter during the period betwe...
Article
Full-text available
Metric standards and variability in South American camelids proximal phalanges. Its importance as comparative sets in archaeological interpretations. Abstract The measurements obtained from South American camelids appendicular skeleton bones have been used in recent years as a benchmark for interpreting different aspects of archaeological studies....
Chapter
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El objetivo de este trabajo consiste en presentar los primeros avances para llevar adelante un estudio tafonómico a nivel regional en el norte del río Santa Cruz. El énfasis se encuentra en generar herramientas que nos sirvan para detectar la probabilidad de mezcla del material arqueológico con aquel depositado naturalmente en sectores específicos...
Article
Full-text available
We present results of faunal studies conducted on the samples recovered in an area of Chorrillo Malo 2 site (Santa Cruz province, Argentina), with dates that range between ca. 6300 and 5500 years BP). The main goal of the paper is the analysis of guanaco (Lama guanicoe) human butchering and consumption. A study of the taphonomic processes that affe...
Article
We present results of faunal studies conducted on the samples recovered in an area of Chorrillo Malo 2 site (Santa Cruz province, Argentina), with dates that range between ca. 6300 and 5500 years BP). The main goal of the paper is the analysis of guanaco (Lama guanicoe) human butchering and consumption. A study of the taphonomic processes that affe...
Article
Full-text available
Se presentan aquí los resultados exploratorios de los trabajos realizados en el curso medio y superior del arroyo El Lechuza, localizado en el norte del río Santa Cruz (provincia de Santa Cruz). Se trata de un área con abundantes afloramientos volcánicos, con alturas entre ca. 550 y 870 msnm. Los resultados preliminares obte-nidos apuntan hacia el...
Data
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Chorrillo Malo 2 is a rockshelter located in the Upper Santa Cruz Basin (Patagonia, Argentina), very close to the Andean range. Its occupation by hunter-gatherers begins about 9,700 years BP with evidence suggesting early human exploration phase of the area. Its stratigraphic sequence extends for about 8,000 years. New chronological data from recen...

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