CUENTAS Y TEMBETÁS MALACOLÓGICOS DE LOS GRUPOS CAZADORES-RECOLECTORES PREHISPÁNICOS DEL HUMEDAL DEL PARANÁ INFERIOR

Among hunter-gatherer groups that inhabited the low Parana wetland during Late Holocene, the most numerous assemblages of ornaments are composed by shell beads and tembetas. In previous works we observed that the assemblages show inter-site morphological similarities with little formal variations. In this paper we test the idea that these elements were used as social markers. Consequently, we expect an homogeneous pattern in the general form and the form of their attributes, as well as the metrical values. For this purpose, we analyse metrical and morphological data of shell assemblages from ten archaeological sites of the study area. Results show different tendencies for shell beads and tembetas. Shell beads are homogenously distributed in the region with a shared morphologic and metric pattern that only excludes one of the archaeological sites. Tembetas are less frequent and show two morpho-metric variants that could be a response either to individual variability or to ethnic identification.