LA RECURRENCIA DEL COIPO (MYOCASTOR COYPUS) EN LOS REGISTROS ARQUEOFAUNÍSTICOS DE LA CUENCA INFERIOR DEL RÍO PARANÁ (ARGENTINA).

In the archaeological record of the lower basin of the Paraná river, Myocastor coypus has been always present. For this reason in this paper we analyze the recurrence of this prey characterized as living in river ecosystems, and, because of its ease of hunting and the possibility of multiple uses of its fur, we estimate that this species was a resource highly exploited by hunter-gatherers in the past. Quantitative (NISP and MNI) and qualitative (modification of the bone surface) analyses of the recovered samples have been done in order to determine how M. coypus might have been exploited in the past. In order to evaluate the variability of the record, we compare samples from different sites in order to establish the similarities and/or differences among them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]