Freshwater Bivalve Taphonomic Signatures from a Late Holocene Mass Deposit in Argentina

Mateo Daniel Monferran presents a taphonomic analysis of freshwater bivalve shells from a mass accumulation at the Isla El Disparito archaeological site in the Iberá Wetlands, northeastern Argentina. The dataset, last updated on 2026-05-29, includes measurements of abrasion, bioerosion, fragmentation, and notches for three species: Diplodon charruanus, Diplodon parallelopipedon, and Castalia sp. This study contributes to understanding subsistence strategies and environmental conditions in South American wetland archaeological contexts.

Use Cases

• Compare taphonomic alteration patterns between Diplodon charruanus, Diplodon parallelopipedon, and Castalia sp. based on species-level data.
• Assess potential human exploitation of bivalves based on the frequency of V-shaped notches described in the study.
• Reconstruct paleoenvironmental conditions in the Iberá Wetlands using the taphonomic characteristics of the shell assemblage.
• Investigate anthropic versus natural accumulation processes for freshwater mollusc remains based on the described taphonomic signatures.

Strengths

• Data is focused on three specific bivalve species (Diplodon charruanus, Diplodon parallelopipedon, Castalia sp.), enabling comparative analysis.
• Taphonomic features are explicitly defined, including abrasion, bioerosion, fragmentation, and notches.
• The dataset is licensed under CC-BY-4.0, permitting broad reuse with attribution.

Limitations

• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• The dataset is very small at 20.0 KB, indicating limited scope.

Provenance

Source

Mateo Daniel Monferran via figshare.

Collection Method

Shells were collected from two transects at the Isla El Disparito archaeological site and examined for taphonomic features.

Time Range

Late Holocene.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-29 11:09:26; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Iberá Wetlands, northeastern Argentina.