Abstract

GALLIGANI, Paula E.; FEUILLET TERZAGHI, Rosario  and  BARRIENTOS, Gustavo. Delimitation of the likely extension of the burial area at the RSCII archaeological site (Santo Tomé, Santa Fe, Argentina) on the basis of soil chemical analysis. Rev. Mus. Antropol. [online]. 2019, vol.12, n.1, pp.45-56. ISSN 1852-060X.

Abstract Phosphorus (P) is one of the main constituents of organic tissues, as well as of physiological waste of vertebrates. It is also one of the most stable elements in the soil profile, which is why it is considered a reliable marker of human activity at the local or site scale. In the particular case of the areas recurrently used for the burial of dead, soil P levels are often noticeably increased as a result of the contribution of phosphates by the decomposition of the bodies. For this reason, its concentration values allow identifying burial areas in cases where the bones are partially or totally absent, as well as estimating their probable extension. In this context, the aim of this paper is to estimate, from the measurement of the concentration of extractable phosphorus (Pe) from soil and the spatial modeling with interpolation techniques, the probable dimension of the burial area detected at the Río Salado-Coronda II site (RSCII), located in the city of Santo Tomé, in the center-east of the province of Santa Fe.

Keywords : Archaeometry; Edaphology; Extractable phosphorus; Human bones remains; Northeast Argentina.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )