Holocene crustaceans from the Tarioba shell mound, Rio das Ostras, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Abstract

Abstract:Crustacean remains from the Tarioba shell mound (Sambaqui da Tarioba) archaeological site were investigated in order to produce a reference inventory of this taxonomic group. Information on past crustacean diversity is important for establishing baselines on biodiversity, as well as recovering paleoenvironmental information and comprehension of evolutionary change patterns for the Brazilian coast. The archaeological site was excavated by delayering the soil by artificial 10 cm sections which revealed five archaeological stratigraphic layers. A sample of mollusk shells for each of these layers was used for dating based on the C 14 method. The results show an occupation period of 550 yr for the Tarioba shell mound, with dates ranging between 4,070 cal BP (beginning of occupation) and 3,520 cal BP (occupation ending) and record nine species of crustaceans from the shell mound. However, a reduction of biodiversity over time was found that was not statically significant. Therefore, it seems that patterns of composition, richness and distribution of crustaceans have been stable in the last 4,070 years BP.

Biodiversity of Holocene marine fish of the southeast coast of Brazil

“…Therefore, the species compositions of the organisms found in middens are presumably non-random and biased samples of natural biological communities at those sites because they were influenced or determined by various cultural factors, including food preference, the technological level of the fishing gear, harvesting and hunting artefacts, food taboos, funerary or ritualistic practices and how the materials were discarded and/or used. Therefore, some researchers believe that the faunal data from middens have selectivity biases that complicate any related inferences about ecosystems and their biodiversity (Baisre 2010, Rodrigues et al 2016a. However, the comparison between the inventory of the marine fish identified in middens and those from general surveys of ichthyological fauna showed no significant differences in the number of species either with or without commercial value, indicating that middens contain data that are not solely applicable to prehistoric fisheries.…”

“…Furthermore, by-catch occurred; that is, species with no known anthropological relevance were incidentally fished with target species (Reitz & Wing 2008, Villagran & Gianini 2014, Beuclair et al 2016. Therefore, midden records are a good indicator of Holocene biodiversity, providing data on fish species composition, abundance, distribution and richness as well as cultural information (diet, fishing gear, ritualistic symbols, ornaments and artefacts) (Souza et al 2010a, Souza et al 2010b, Faria et al 2014, Mendes et al 2014, Rodrigues et al 2016a, Rodrigues et al 2016b, Beuclair et al 2016.…”

Zooarqueología de los restos malacológicos de Sambaqui da Tarioba (Rio das Ostras-RJ, Brasil)

“…Na segunda fase, que ocorreu em 1997 em área diferente do sítio, foi criado o Museu Sambaqui da Tarioba que hoje apresenta in situ o material recuperado durante essa nova etapa de escavação (Dias, 2001). Desde 2010, o Sambaqui da Tarioba tem sido alvo de estudos dedicados à descrição da sua cronologia (Macario et al, 2014) e diversidade biológica, especialmente no que diz respeito a crustáceos (Rodrigues et al, 2016a) e fitólitos (Coe et al, 2017). Com relação à diversidade malacológica, os trabalhos publicados se restringiam ao estudo de dados de reservas técnicas (Souza et al, 2010b) ou do monte de descarte (Faria et al, 2014) de escavações passadas, em ambos os casos sem informações quantitativas ou cronológicas.…”

Coleção de subfósseis de sambaquis do Brasil

“…Os vestígios zooarqueológicos têm sido usados, quase que exclusivamente, para interpretação de hábitos alimentares, economia doméstica e aspectos culturais. Mais recentemente, os vestígios zooarqueológicos de sambaquis começaram a ser utilizados para inferências sobre a constituição da fauna do Holoceno Recente [14,15,16,17,18,19].…”

“…Bem como, a partir de levantamento bibliográfico, produzir fichas informativas referente às espécies tombadas. Esta coleção tem servido como referência para estudos taxonômicos [14,19], biológicos [26], arqueológicos [15], de evolução da biodiversidade [16,17], datações por radiocarbono [27,28] e paleoambientes [29]. Além disso, tem atendido a projetos de educação ambiental junto a escolas públicas [30].…”