Great white shark teeth used as pendants and possible tools by early‐middle Holocene terrestrial mammal hunter‐gatherers in the Eastern Pampas (Southern South America)

Abstract

Abstract Two great white shark ( Carcharodon carcharias ) teeth recovered in a terrestrial mammal hunter‐gatherers context in the Pampas are described. Associated lithic (mainly quarzite) tools, and the predominant exploitation of the Lama guanicoe relate the ancient inhabitants of the site with those of the early‐middle Holocene sites of the Area Interserrana of the Provincia de Buenos Aires. According to the stratigraphic context and the terrestrial fauna, the age of the deposit seems to be constrained to the early‐middle Holocene. The root tips of the shark teeth are marked by an artificial transvers groove fitted to tie a thread. Tooth edge serrations are strongly eroded, suggesting they were used as tools. We favour the hypotheses that the fish could have stranded on the beach or a small estuary in the neighbourhood, or that the teeth were obtained from the body of a pinniped attacked by a shark and sobsequenty found by humans. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.