Naturalistic taphonomic research undertaken since 2005 in Santa Cruz river mouth and Monte León National Park (Southern Patagonia, Argentina) is presented. The research is aimed to explore vertebrate bone recycling under the same environmental conditions, the coastal patagonian steppe. Three aspects are considered: time involved in vertebrate carcass disarticulation; the taphomic processes and actors involved and the main features of the resulting assemblages. Disarticulation rate and bone scattering is driven by decomposition related processes. This may imply a slow bone recycling and may condition bones available for becoming part of the fossil record by generating disperse less bones exposed for a considerable time span.
Cruz, I. (2015). Estado actual de las investigaciones tafonómicas naturalistas en Punta Entrada y Monte León (Patagonia Meridional). Revista Chilena De Antropología, (29). Retrieved from https://iamr.uchile.cl/index.php/RCA/article/view/36214