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Archaeological shell and fish middens are rich sources of paleoenvironmental proxy data. Patelloid limpet shells are common constituents in archaeological middens found along European, African, and South American coastlines. Paleotemperature reconstructions using oxygen isotope ratios of limpet shells depend on the ability to constrain the oxygen isotope ratio of seawater; therefore, alternative proxies are necessary for coastal localities where this is not possible. The study evaluates whether Mg/Ca, Sr/Ca, Li/Ca, Li/Mg, and Sr/Li ratios are reliable proxies of sea surface temperature (SST) in the calcite layer of shells of the patelloid limpets, Patella vulgata and Nacella deaurata. We compare Mg/Ca, Sr/Ca, Li/Ca, Li/Mg, and Sr/Li ratios to the seasonal variations in contemporaneous δ18Oshell values, which primarily record seasonal changes in SST. Elemental ratios (Mg/Ca, Sr/Ca, Li/Ca, Li/Mg, and Sr/Li) show no significant correlations with reconstructed SST in P. vulgata and N. deaurata shells, nor do they show sinusoidal cycles expected from a SST proxy. In addition, shell δ13C values show no significant ontogenetic trends, suggesting that these limpets exhibit little change in metabolic carbon incorporation into the shell with increasing ontogenetic age. Although shell growth rate exhibits a logarithmic decrease with age based on calculated linear extension rates, growth rate does not correlate with elemental profiles in these limpets. Overall, elemental ratios are not reliable recorders of paleotemperature in patelloid limpets.

Fil: Buscaglia, Silvana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Oficina de Coordinacion Administrativa Saavedra 15. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Historia y Ciencias Humanas; Argentina

The production-consumption duality is a key element to deal with technological innovations, the organization of human labor, and social change. The analysis of production-consumption dynamic in lithics implies to explore how the artifacts were made and how they were used as a result of a single spatial-temporal praxis. The study of form-function holds the clues to disentangle the complex nature of production-consumption dynamics. Changes in consumption patterns were identified between hunter-gatherer and fishing societies from Tierra del Fuego along the human occupation of the region. High productivity levels were achieved by these societies since they obtained high consumption values with low production values

The aim of this paper is to present the results obtained through the application of two imaging methods named rotated image with maximum average power spectrum (RIMAPS) and Variograms to mathematically characterize distinct patterns of worked materials on used edges of lithic artifacts. Both analytical procedures were performed on digitized images taken with an electronic microscope, allowing for the quantitative description of a given surface and revealing its topographic patterns. The preliminary research conducted on a sample of experimental lithic artifacts used to process different materials has shown promising results to the extent that fingerprints of different work processes (hide, bone, and wood-working) can be drawn.

Thanks to their components, formation dynamics and physico-chemical nature, shell middens offer ideal conditions for the preservation of social and environmental proxies. In this sense they can be thought of as field laboratories for the development of interdisciplinary research in the Quaternary and Social Sciences. The progress of such approach depends on a reassessment of regional shell midden studies and on the establishment of common guidelines that allow research focus to shift from regional to continental scales and back. An effective implementation of interdisciplinary Quaternary and Social (archaeological and anthropological) research on shell middens would potentially allow redefining key aspects in human history, from the origins of our species to its spreading to the most remote areas of the world.

From Worsaae’s pioneering research onwards, shell middens have been a focus of interest in archaeological enquiry, and a great deal of innovative research has been carried out. The aim of this paper is to make a general review of the state of art in shell midden research, taking into account three main areas: a) the study of aquatic resource exploitation; b) the antiquity of shell middens in relation to human dispersal and group diversification; and c) the methodological improvement enhanced by shell midden enquiry. The record preserved in shell middens is particularly valuable for the development of interdisciplinary approaches in investigating human–environment interaction, social relations and the role of aquatic resource exploitation in the evolutive trajectory of human groups.

This article presents an agent-based model designed to explore the development of cooperation in hunter-fisher-gatherer societies that face a dilemma of sharing an unpredictable resource that is randomly distributed in space. The model is a stylised abstraction of the Yamana society, which inhabited the channels and islands of the southernmost part of Tierra del Fuego (Argentina-Chile). According to ethnographic sources, the Yamana developed cooperative behaviour supported by an indirect reciprocity mechanism: whenever someone found an extraordinary confluence of resources, such as a beached whale, they would use smoke signals to announce their find, bringing people together to share food and exchange different types of social capital. The model provides insight on how the spatial concentration of beachings and agents’ movements in the space can influence cooperation. We conclude that the emergence of informal and dynamic communities that operate as a vigilance network preserves cooperation and makes defection very costly.

To evaluate the effectiveness of a clinic protocol used in the Complexo Hospitalario Universitario de Vigo (CHUVI) for obese outpatients.The study included 47 obese outpatients. All of them were evaluated in clinical department and applied the obesity protocol for a period of 2 years. Variables as weight, BMI and levels of obesity in the initial and final time were evaluated.In obese patients between 26 and 65 years was observed a tendency to reduce their degree of obesity, with significant differences in 2012 compared to 2010. There are differences in behavior between men and women in terms of change in obesity graduation.In our study we found differences in behavior between men and women in terms of grade change in obesity, in women there is a greater tendency to reduce.Objetivo: Evaluar la eficacia de un protocolo clínico para pacientes obesos utilizado en la consulta de obesidad del Complexo Hospitalario Universitario de Vigo (CHUVI). Pacientes y métodos: En el estudio participaron 47 pacientes procedentes de la consulta de obesidad del CHUVI. Todos ellos fueron evaluados en consulta y siguieron el protocolo de obesidad durante un periodo de 2 años. Se evaluaron variables como el peso, el IMC y los grados de obesidad en el momento inicial y final. Resultados y discusión: En pacientes obesos entre 26 y 65 años se observa una tendencia a disminuir su grado de obesidad, con diferencias significativas en el 2012 respecto al 2010. Hay diferencias de comportamiento entre hombres y mujeres en cuanto al cambio de graduación en la obesidad. Conclusiones: En nuestro estudio hemos comprobado diferencias de comportamiento entre hombres y mujeres en cuanto al cambio de graduación en la obesidad; en las mujeres hay una mayor tendencia a reducirlo.

In this paper we present the results of observations made via optical microscopy and SEM of microwear traces on experimental lithic tools used in the replication of rock art engravings. The overall aim of this experimental programme is to generate diagnostic microscopic criteria that could subsequently be used (a) in the identification of archaeological artefacts that have been involved in the production of rock art engravings, and (b) in the inference of the engraving techniques in which they have been used. The methods of replication of engraved figures and lines, and the observation of the microwear traces on the experimental artefacts used are presented. The complementary use of stereomicroscope, metallographic microscope with bright field, dark field and laser illumination, and SEM is also discussed. The resulting microwear traces observed on the tools used in the experiment are characterized, and are linked to the two different engraving techniques with which the rock art replication has been carried out.

Durante los últimos años, las investigaciones arqueológicas sobre el registro mortuorio del área del archipiélago Magallánico-Fueguino se han incrementado considerablemente. Estos estudios pusieron de manifiesto que las prácticas mortuorias implicaron una gran diversidad de comportamientos relacionados con el tratamiento del cuerpo, el emplazamiento del entierro, el número de individuos incluidos o los artefactos dejados junto al difunto. En este trabajo, nos focalizamos en el análisis de un contexto específico, Shamakush Entierro, localizado en la costa norte del canal Beagle. Este sitio, datado en el 620 ± 60 AP, exhibe el contexto mortuorio más complejo y elaborado debido al trabajo invertido en la preparación del entierro y en el ajuar que acompaña al difunto tales como: puntas de arma lítica, artefactos bifaciales, filos largo retocados y artefactos óseos. Se presentan los procedimientos metodológicos para su abordaje y se discute la importancia de este contexto en el análisis de las sociedades litorales fueguinas.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2004 in Savannah, Georgia, USA, August 1–5, 2004.