Analysis of food remains in human coprolites from Furna do Estrago prehistoric site, Pernambuco State, Brazil.
Author(s): Luciana Sianto; Isabel Dos Santos; Adauto Araújo; Sheila Mendonça de Souza; Sérgio de Miranda Chaves
Year: 2015
Summary
The identification of human food remains from archaeological sites contributes to paleonutrition and paleoepidemiology studies, shedding light on key aspects of human biological evolution and cultural changes.In the present study,macroscopic and microscopic food remains were recovered from human coprolites from Furna do Estrago,Pernambuco State,Brazil.The remains are dated between 1860 +/- 50 (BETA 145954) and 1,610 +/- 70 (BETA 145955) years BP (before present).The region may have been subjected to harsh environmental conditions periodically in the past.During these times,human groups may have been subject to food shortages and consequently drew on alternative food sources.The study seeks to understand diet alternatives and strategies used by this group during such periods.Based on analysis of microscopic remains, plants were widely used as food sources by the group that buried their dead at the rock shelter, both by the predominance of such items in the analyzed samples, and by of the identification of plant resources in the site vicinity.Unfortunately, animal protein sources are not retrievable by our methods of microscopic analysis.However,trace evidence of fauna was observed.It is necessary to understand the relationship between the natural and social environments,that is,the possibility of selection and distribution of resources beyond the natural supply and their potential use.
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Cite this Record
Analysis of food remains in human coprolites from Furna do Estrago prehistoric site, Pernambuco State, Brazil.. Isabel Dos Santos, Luciana Sianto, Sheila Mendonça de Souza, Adauto Araújo, Sérgio de Miranda Chaves. Presented at The 80th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, San Francisco, California. 2015 ( tDAR id: 394852)
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Keywords
Geographic Keywords
South America
Spatial Coverage
min long: -93.691; min lat: -56.945 ; max long: -31.113; max lat: 18.48 ;