Damaged glyptodontid skulls from Late Pleistocene sites of northwestern Venezuela: evidence of hunting by humans?

Autores
Carlini, Alfredo Armando; Carrillo‑Briceño, Jorge D.; Jaimes, Arturo; Aguilera, Orangel; Zurita, Alfredo E.; Iriarte, José; Sánchez‑Villagra, Marcelo R.
Año de publicación
2022
Idioma
inglés
Tipo de recurso
artículo
Estado
versión publicada
Descripción
The Muaco and Taima-Taima sites, in Falcón State of northwestern Venezuela, are among the earliest sites of human occupation in South America containing artifacts associated with preserved megafaunal remains and dating between 19,810 and 15,780 calybp. Here we report novel visual and CT scanning analysis of six glyptodont skulls of Glyptotherium cf. cylindricum from these sites, of which four exhibit distinct and similar patterns of breakages in the frontoparietal region that suggest intentional blows by direct percussion by humans, with fractures not being diagenetic but instead antemortem or transmortem. This hypothesized and unreported hunting technique focused in an area of the skull where the cephalic shield becomes thin, thus increasing the effectiveness of the blow. From Taima-Taima other glyptodont remains included an inverted carapace, also previously reported as probable evidence of human– glyptodont interaction during the latest Pleistocene. We estimated that roughly 150-170 Kg of potentially accessible muscles and fat of an adult Glyptotherium cylindricum could be used as food sources.
Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo
Materia
Paleontología
Hunting
Glyptodonts
Megafauna
Extinction
South America
Nivel de accesibilidad
acceso abierto
Condiciones de uso
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Repositorio
SEDICI (UNLP)
Institución
Universidad Nacional de La Plata
OAI Identificador
oai:sedici.unlp.edu.ar:10915/154818

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network_name_str SEDICI (UNLP)
spelling Damaged glyptodontid skulls from Late Pleistocene sites of northwestern Venezuela: evidence of hunting by humans?Carlini, Alfredo ArmandoCarrillo‑Briceño, Jorge D.Jaimes, ArturoAguilera, OrangelZurita, Alfredo E.Iriarte, JoséSánchez‑Villagra, Marcelo R.PaleontologíaHuntingGlyptodontsMegafaunaExtinctionSouth AmericaThe Muaco and Taima-Taima sites, in Falcón State of northwestern Venezuela, are among the earliest sites of human occupation in South America containing artifacts associated with preserved megafaunal remains and dating between 19,810 and 15,780 calybp. Here we report novel visual and CT scanning analysis of six glyptodont skulls of Glyptotherium cf. cylindricum from these sites, of which four exhibit distinct and similar patterns of breakages in the frontoparietal region that suggest intentional blows by direct percussion by humans, with fractures not being diagenetic but instead antemortem or transmortem. This hypothesized and unreported hunting technique focused in an area of the skull where the cephalic shield becomes thin, thus increasing the effectiveness of the blow. From Taima-Taima other glyptodont remains included an inverted carapace, also previously reported as probable evidence of human– glyptodont interaction during the latest Pleistocene. We estimated that roughly 150-170 Kg of potentially accessible muscles and fat of an adult Glyptotherium cylindricum could be used as food sources.Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo2022info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionArticulohttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501info:ar-repo/semantics/articuloapplication/pdfhttp://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/154818enginfo:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/issn/1664-2376info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/issn/1664-2384info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1186/s13358-022-00253-3info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccesshttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)reponame:SEDICI (UNLP)instname:Universidad Nacional de La Platainstacron:UNLP2025-09-03T11:12:12Zoai:sedici.unlp.edu.ar:10915/154818Institucionalhttp://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/Universidad públicaNo correspondehttp://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/oai/snrdalira@sedici.unlp.edu.arArgentinaNo correspondeNo correspondeNo correspondeopendoar:13292025-09-03 11:12:13.186SEDICI (UNLP) - Universidad Nacional de La Platafalse
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Damaged glyptodontid skulls from Late Pleistocene sites of northwestern Venezuela: evidence of hunting by humans?
title Damaged glyptodontid skulls from Late Pleistocene sites of northwestern Venezuela: evidence of hunting by humans?
spellingShingle Damaged glyptodontid skulls from Late Pleistocene sites of northwestern Venezuela: evidence of hunting by humans?
Carlini, Alfredo Armando
Paleontología
Hunting
Glyptodonts
Megafauna
Extinction
South America
title_short Damaged glyptodontid skulls from Late Pleistocene sites of northwestern Venezuela: evidence of hunting by humans?
title_full Damaged glyptodontid skulls from Late Pleistocene sites of northwestern Venezuela: evidence of hunting by humans?
title_fullStr Damaged glyptodontid skulls from Late Pleistocene sites of northwestern Venezuela: evidence of hunting by humans?
title_full_unstemmed Damaged glyptodontid skulls from Late Pleistocene sites of northwestern Venezuela: evidence of hunting by humans?
title_sort Damaged glyptodontid skulls from Late Pleistocene sites of northwestern Venezuela: evidence of hunting by humans?
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Carlini, Alfredo Armando
Carrillo‑Briceño, Jorge D.
Jaimes, Arturo
Aguilera, Orangel
Zurita, Alfredo E.
Iriarte, José
Sánchez‑Villagra, Marcelo R.
author Carlini, Alfredo Armando
author_facet Carlini, Alfredo Armando
Carrillo‑Briceño, Jorge D.
Jaimes, Arturo
Aguilera, Orangel
Zurita, Alfredo E.
Iriarte, José
Sánchez‑Villagra, Marcelo R.
author_role author
author2 Carrillo‑Briceño, Jorge D.
Jaimes, Arturo
Aguilera, Orangel
Zurita, Alfredo E.
Iriarte, José
Sánchez‑Villagra, Marcelo R.
author2_role author
author
author
author
author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Paleontología
Hunting
Glyptodonts
Megafauna
Extinction
South America
topic Paleontología
Hunting
Glyptodonts
Megafauna
Extinction
South America
dc.description.none.fl_txt_mv The Muaco and Taima-Taima sites, in Falcón State of northwestern Venezuela, are among the earliest sites of human occupation in South America containing artifacts associated with preserved megafaunal remains and dating between 19,810 and 15,780 calybp. Here we report novel visual and CT scanning analysis of six glyptodont skulls of Glyptotherium cf. cylindricum from these sites, of which four exhibit distinct and similar patterns of breakages in the frontoparietal region that suggest intentional blows by direct percussion by humans, with fractures not being diagenetic but instead antemortem or transmortem. This hypothesized and unreported hunting technique focused in an area of the skull where the cephalic shield becomes thin, thus increasing the effectiveness of the blow. From Taima-Taima other glyptodont remains included an inverted carapace, also previously reported as probable evidence of human– glyptodont interaction during the latest Pleistocene. We estimated that roughly 150-170 Kg of potentially accessible muscles and fat of an adult Glyptotherium cylindricum could be used as food sources.
Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo
description The Muaco and Taima-Taima sites, in Falcón State of northwestern Venezuela, are among the earliest sites of human occupation in South America containing artifacts associated with preserved megafaunal remains and dating between 19,810 and 15,780 calybp. Here we report novel visual and CT scanning analysis of six glyptodont skulls of Glyptotherium cf. cylindricum from these sites, of which four exhibit distinct and similar patterns of breakages in the frontoparietal region that suggest intentional blows by direct percussion by humans, with fractures not being diagenetic but instead antemortem or transmortem. This hypothesized and unreported hunting technique focused in an area of the skull where the cephalic shield becomes thin, thus increasing the effectiveness of the blow. From Taima-Taima other glyptodont remains included an inverted carapace, also previously reported as probable evidence of human– glyptodont interaction during the latest Pleistocene. We estimated that roughly 150-170 Kg of potentially accessible muscles and fat of an adult Glyptotherium cylindricum could be used as food sources.
publishDate 2022
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2022
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
Articulo
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info:ar-repo/semantics/articulo
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/154818
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dc.language.none.fl_str_mv eng
language eng
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/issn/1664-2376
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/issn/1664-2384
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1186/s13358-022-00253-3
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:SEDICI (UNLP)
instname:Universidad Nacional de La Plata
instacron:UNLP
reponame_str SEDICI (UNLP)
collection SEDICI (UNLP)
instname_str Universidad Nacional de La Plata
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institution UNLP
repository.name.fl_str_mv SEDICI (UNLP) - Universidad Nacional de La Plata
repository.mail.fl_str_mv alira@sedici.unlp.edu.ar
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