Bioarchaeology International
Latest Publications


TOTAL DOCUMENTS

71
(FIVE YEARS 47)

H-INDEX

5
(FIVE YEARS 2)

Published By University Press Of Florida

2472-8357, 2472-8349

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (3–4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Verónica Alberto-Barroso ◽  
Marco Moreno-Benítez ◽  
Teresa Delgado-Darias ◽  
Félix Mendoza-Medina ◽  
Ibán Suárez- Medina ◽  
...  

This article addresses the study of an indigenous burial at Mina Mountain (Lanzarote), dating from cal A.D. 1300 to 1402. Pre-European funerary contexts in Lanzarote are scarce, resulting in a particular historical situation for a population that lived on the island for at least 1,400 years, whose dead people and burial sites are virtually unknown. We analyze the available data on mortuary practices of the native population, adding a new example to the limited existing evidence. This is the first archaeological study carried out on the island that focuses on a funerary context, providing clear evidence for canine scavenging on a corpse placed in a pit and the subsequent rearrangement of the disarticulated skeletal remains in a secondary hollow. The study advances bioanthropological description and specific taphonomic data of bone modifications as evidence of the events that took place at the site, providing data to interpret this singular burial. In addition, the chronological framework,  together with the references of the narrative sources describing the Franco-Norman conquest of the island in 1402, allows us to propose a potential scenario explaining this unique site.   Se aborda el estudio de un enterramiento indígena en Montaña Mina (Lanzarote), datado entre el 1300-1402 d. C. Los contextos funerarios en Lanzarote son escasos, reflejando una situación histórica peculiar en la que no se conocen donde están los muertos de una población que arraigó en la isla durante 1400 años. En este trabajo se analiza la información disponible sobre las prácticas funerarias indígenas, aportando un nuevo caso al limitado repertorio de sitios mortuorios. Se trata del primer estudio arqueológico sobre un contexto funerario con claras evidencias de carroñeo. El enterramiento corresponde a una fosa en la que el cadáver fue alterado por la intervención de perros, lo que provocó una reubicación posterior de los restos humanos dentro de la misma fosa. A partir del análisis bioantropológico y tafónomico de las evidencias óseas se establece la secuencia de los hechos que allí tuvieron lugar. Asimismo, atendiendo al marco cronológico del entierro y la información recogida en las crónicas de la conquista normanda de la isla en 1402, se propone un posible escenario para le explicación de este caso único.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (3–4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eléa Gutierrez ◽  
Isabelle Ribot ◽  
Jean-François Hélie

This paleochemical study explores the differences and similarities in weaning practices between two colonist populations buried in Montreal and its environs: the rural village cemetery of Pointe-aux-Trembles (PT, 1709–1843) and the urban Notre-Dame cemetery (ND, 1691–1796). Forty-six teeth (or individuals) were microsampled in both crown and root parts of the dentine (one to four and four to six sampling sites for deciduous and permanent teeth, respectively), totaling 56 microsamples for PT (seven M1, seven m1, and three m2) and 102 for ND (22 M1 and seven m1). For both sites, a general decrease of 1.3‰ in δ15N (ranging from 0.5‰ to 2.6‰) was observed between the first and last samples for permanent teeth (PT: five out of seven individuals; ND: 14 out of 22), and weaning seems to end around 2 years of age. As expected, in both parishes, weaning was mainly gradual (80%: PT; 86%: ND). An introduction of complementary food was also identified after 6 months of age (73%: PT; 81%: ND). The variation in δ15N profiles suggested other scenarios such as introduction of complementary foods just after birth (four PT and four ND), absence of breastfeeding (three PT and nine ND), and abrupt weaning (three ND). Environmental and socioeconomic factors might explain these individual variations, as infant feeding practices might have changed over time in these two growing and closely related parishes.   Cette étude paléochimique explore les différences et les similitudes dans les pratiques de sevrage entre deux populations de colons enterrées à Montréal et ses environs : le cimetière rural du village de Pointe-aux-Trembles (PT, 1709–1843) et le cimetière urbain de Notre-Dame (ND, 1691–1796). Quarante-six dents (ou individus) ont été micro-échantillonnées dans la dentine de la couronne et des racines (1 à 4 et 4 à 6 sites d'échantillonnage pour les dents de lait et les dents permanentes respectivement), totalisant 56 micro-échantillons pour PT (7 M1, 7 m1 et 3 m2) et 102 pour ND (22 M1 et 7 m1). Pour les deux sites, une diminution du d 15N d’une moyenne de 1,3‰ (allant de 0,5 à 2,6‰) a été observé entre le premier et le dernier micro-échantillon pour les dents permanentes (PT : 5 sur 7 individus ; ND : 14 sur 22), et le sevrage semble se terminer vers l'âge de deux ans. Comme attendu, dans les deux paroisses, le sevrage a été principalement progressif (80 % : PT ; 86 % : ND). Une introduction d'aliments complémentaires a également été identifiée après l'âge de six mois (73 % : PT ; 81 % : ND). La variation des profils des valeurs de δ15N permet également de suggérer d'autres scénarios tels que : l'introduction d'aliments complémentaires juste après la naissance (4 PT et 4 ND), l'absence d'allaitement (3 PT et 9 ND) et un sevrage abrupt (3 ND). Des facteurs environnementaux et socio-économiques pourraient expliquer ces variations individuelles, car les pratiques d'alimentation des nourrissons pourraient avoir changé au fil du temps dans ces deux paroisses en pleine croissance et étroitement liées.


Author(s):  
Heather Battles ◽  
Rebecca Gilmour

Epidemics and pandemics are typically discussed in terms of morbidity and mortality, susceptibility and immunity, and social responses to and impacts of the immediate epidemic event. Much less attention is paid to the longer-term consequences for individuals and populations in terms of the sequelae of infections, such as blindness after smallpox, deafness due to congenital rubella, and paralysis after polio. This same tendency is observed in the COVID-19 pandemic, with counts of cases and deaths, questions of immunity, and economic impacts at the foreground and long-term or chronic health impairment of COVID-19 survivors receiving less attention. Much of the existing research on the effects of such disease sequelae has come from disability history; in addition, the bioarchaeology of impairment/disability is an emerging area of research that can contribute insight into experiences of disease consequences. In this article, we give an overview of published work on survivors of infectious disease using both bioarchaeology and disability history. Using the example of post-polio paralysis, we propose a theoretical approach to the bioarchaeological study of infectious disease that is inclusive of the history of impairment and disability, which we refer to as a survivor lens. We structure this discussion through scaffolded questions that move through multiple levels of analysis: from the individual and relational to the drivers of cultural change. We argue that bioarchaeological research on past epidemics and pandemics that attends to morbidity and lasting impairment and disability can contribute to wider conversations about infectious disease and disability in the past and present.   En général, les épidémies et les pandémies sont considérées en termes de morbidité et de mortalité, de susceptibilité et d’immunité, et de réponses sociales et d’impacts immédiats de l’événement épidémique. Moins d’attention est accordée aux conséquences à long terme pour les individus et les populations en termes de séquelles d’infections, telles que la cécité après la variole, la surdité due à la rubéole congénitale et la paralysie après la polio. Cette même tendance est observée lors de la pandémie de COVID-19. Il y a moins d’attention accordée au nombre de cas et de décès, aux questions d’immunité et d’impacts économiques au premier plan, et aux problèmes de santé à long terme ou chroniques des survivants de COVID-19 reçoivent. Une grande partie de la recherche existante sur les effets de ces séquelles de la maladie provient de la recherche sur les déficiences/handicaps. De plus, la bioarchéologie de la déficience/handicap est un domaine de recherche émergent qui peut contribuer à mieux comprendre les expériences des conséquences de maladie. Dans cet article, nous donnons un aperçu des travaux publiés sur les survivants de maladies infectieuses en utilisant à la fois la bioarchéologie et l’histoire du handicap. En utilisant l’exemple de la paralysie post-polio, nous proposons une approche théorique de l’étude bioarchéologique des maladies infectieuses qui inclut l’histoire de la déficience/handicap, que nous appelons une lentille de survivant. Nous structurons cette discussion à travers des questions échafaudées qui traversent de multiples niveaux d’analyse: de l’individu au relationnel, jusqu’au aux changements culturels. Nous soutenons que la recherche bioarchéologique sur les épidémies et pandémies historiques qui examine la morbidité et le handicap peut contribuer à des conversations plus larges sur les maladies infectieuses et le handicap au passé ainsi qu’au présent.


Author(s):  
Melandri Vlok ◽  
Hallie Buckley

The processes of human mobility have been well demonstrated to influence the spread of infectious disease globally in the present and the past. However, to date, paleoepidemiological research has focused more on factors of residential mobility and population density as drivers for epidemiological shifts in prehistoric infectious disease patterns. A strong body of epidemiological literature exists for the dynamics of infectious disease spread through networks of mobility and interaction. We review the epidemiological theory of infectious disease spread and propose frameworks for application of this theory to bioarchaeology. We outline problems with current definitions of prehistoric mobility and propose a framework shift with focus on population interactions as nodes for disease transmission. To conceptualize this new framework, we produced a theoretical model that considers the interplay between climate suitability, population density, residential mobility, and human interaction levels to influence infectious disease patterns in prehistoric assemblages. We then tested observable effects of this model in paleoepidemiological data from Asia (n = 343). Relative risk ratio analysis and correlations were used to test the impact of population interaction, residential mobility, population density, climate, and subsistence on the prevalence and diversity of infectious diseases. Our statistical results showed higher levels of population interaction led to significantly higher prevalence of infectious disease in sedentary populations and a significant increase in pathogen diversity in mobile populations. We recommend that population interaction be included as an important component of infectious disease analysis of prehistoric population health alongside other biosocial factors, such as sedentism and population density.   Daar is goed gedemonstreer dat die prosesse van menslike mobiliteit die verspreiding van aansteeklike siektes wêreldwyd in die hede en in die verlede beïnvloed. Maar tot op hede het paleo-epidemiologiese navorsing egter meer gefokus op faktore van residensiële mobiliteit en bevolkingsdigtheid as dryfvere vir epidemiologiese verskuiwings in die prehistoriese infeksiesiektepatrone. Sterk epidemiologiese literatuur bestaan vir die dinamika van aansteeklike siektes wat versprei word deur netwerke van mobiliteit en interaksie. Ons ondersoek die epidemiologiese teorie van die verspreiding van aansteeklike siektes en stel raamwerke voor vir die toepassing van hierdie teorie op die bioargeologie. Ons skets probleme met huidige definisies van prehistoriese mobiliteit en stel ‘n raamwerk verskuiwing voor met die fokus op bevolkings-interaksies as nodusse vir oordrag van siektes. Om hierdie nuwe raamwerk te konseptualiseer, het ons ‘n teoretiese model vervaardig wat die wisselwerking tussen klimaatsgeskiktheid, bevolkingsdigtheid, residensiële mobiliteit en menslike interaksievlakke oorweeg om die infeksiesiektepatrone in prehistoriese samestellings te beïnvloed. Daarna het ons die waarneembare effekte van hierdie model getoets in paleo-epidemiologiese data uit Asië (n = 343). Relatiewe risiko-verhoudingsanalise en korrelasies is gebruik om die impak van bevolkings-interaksie, residensiële mobiliteit, bevolkingsdigtheid, klimaat en bestaan op die voorkoms en diversiteit van aansteeklike siektes te toets. Ons statistiese resultate het gedemonstreer dat hoër vlakke van bevolkings-interaksie gelei het tot aansienlik hoër voorkoms van aansteeklike siektes in sittende bevolkings en ‘n beduidende toename in patogeen diversiteit in mobiele bevolkings. Ons beveel aan dat bevolkings-interaksie ingesluit word as ‘n belangrike komponent van die aantstekingsiekte-ontleding van die prehistoriese bevolkingsgesondheid, tesame met ander biososiale faktore soos sedentisme en bevolkingsdigtheid.


Author(s):  
Sharon DeWitte ◽  
Amanda Wissler

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has justifiably captured the attention of people around the world since late 2019. It has produced in many people a new perspective on or, indeed, a new realization about our potential vulnerability to emerging infectious diseases. However, our species has experienced numerous catastrophic disease pandemics in the past, and in addition to concerns about the harm being produced during the pandemic and the potential long-term sequelae of the disease, what has been frustrating for many public health experts, anthropologists, and historians is awareness that many of the outcomes of COVID-19 are not inevitable and might have been preventable had we actually heeded lessons from the past. We are currently witnessing variation in exposure risk, symptoms, and mortality from COVID-19, but these patterns are not surprising given what we know about past pandemics. We review here the literature on the demographic and evolutionary consequences of the Second Pandemic of Plague (ca. fourteenth–nineteenth centuries C.E.) and the 1918 influenza pandemic, two of the most devastating pandemics in recorded human history. These both provide case studies of the ways in which sociocultural and environmental contexts shape the experiences and outcomes of pandemic disease. Many of the factors at work during these past pandemics continue to be reproduced in modern contexts, and ultimately our hope is that by highlighting the outcomes that are at least theoretically preventable, we can leverage our knowledge about past experiences to prepare for and respond to disease today.


Author(s):  
Sara Juengst ◽  
Brittany Hundman ◽  
John Krigbaum ◽  
George Kamenov

In South America, most examples of dental modification come from Ecuador; however, none have been directly radiocarbon dated and few have associated cultural materials or context. In fact, many modified teeth and crania are housed in museum collections, divorced from their cultural and temporal milieus, and because of this it is generally assumed that this limits the interpretive possibility of these individuals. We used multiple methods to investigate temporal and geographic origins of seven crania with dental modification housed in the Museo Antropológico y Arte Contemporáneo in Guayaquil, Ecuador. We identified diverse forms of dental modification, including dental inlays and appliques, incised lines, and anterior dental avulsion. Additionally, teeth from four modified individuals were sampled for radiocarbon dating and isotopic analyses (Sr, Pb, O). The dates indicate that dental modification persisted for at least 600 years (cal. A.D. 990–1646). The relatively heavy oxygen isotopes in the sampled teeth are consistent with Ecuador as a place of origin for the four individuals assayed, but strontium isotopes are quite varied, from 0.70462 to 0.70777 indicating that they did not reside in the same geographical area. Interestingly, the observed variations in strontium isotopes in the four individuals are lower than the modeled 87Sr/86Sr for the region. The values suggest the individuals resided in terrains with volcanic bedrock, which are abundant in Ecuador, yet their influence on the strontium isoscapes is not well represented by the published regional models. This analysis highlights the utility of multiple methods in bioarchaeology and biogeochemistry to investigate “orphaned” museum collections.   En Sudamérica, la mayor parte de los ejemplos de modificación dental surgen de Ecuador; sin embargo, ninguno de estos casos ha sido fechados utilizando análisis de radiocarbono y pocos están asociados con contextos o materiales culturales. De hecho, varios dientes y cráneos modificados están localizados en colecciones museísticas y han sido divorciados de sus entornos culturales y temporales originales, generalmente con la suposición que limitan la posibilidad interpretativa de estos individuos. Nosotros utilizamos varios métodos bioarqueológicos y biogeoquímicos para investigar los orígenes temporales y geográficos de siete cráneos con modificaciones dentales ubicados en el Museo Antropológico y Arte Contemporáneo en Guayaquil, Ecuador. Nosotros identificamos varias formas de modificaciones dentales, incluyendo incrustaciones y aplicaciones dentales, incisiones de líneas y avulsión dental anterior. Adicionalmente, los dientes modificados de cuatro individuos fueron muestreados para fechar con análisis de radiocarbono y análisis isotópico (Sr, Pb, O). Las fechas indican que la modificación dental persistió durante por lo menos 600 años (990–1646 DC). Los isótopos de oxígeno relativamente pesados en los dientes muestreados son consistentes con Ecuador como lugar de origen para los cuatro individuos analizados, pero los isótopos de estroncio son bastante variados, de 0.70462 a 0.70777, lo que indica que no residían en la misma área geográfica. Las variaciones observadas en los isotopos de estroncio son más bajes de los 87Sr/86Sr modeladas para la región e indican que estos individuaos residían en regiones con la roca de fondo volcánica. Las rocas volcánicas son abundadas en Ecuador y aparentemente no está bien representadas en los modelos. Aún más, esta es la primera evidencia bioarqueológica sugerente de avulsión dental en Ecuador prehispánico. Finalmente, este análisis resalta la utilidad de métodos mixtos en bioarqueología y biogeoquímica para investigar colecciones museísticas que han “quedado huérfanas”.


Author(s):  
Anne Marie Snoddy ◽  
Charlotte King ◽  
Peter Petchey ◽  
Justyna Miszkiewicz ◽  
Rebecca Kinaston ◽  
...  

The mid-nineteenth century saw extensive diaspora from Europe to the antipodes. New Zealand in particular was marketed to the poor and middle classes of the United Kingdom (UK) as a “Better Britain”; a pastoral utopia of abundant resources and easy living. These campaigns actively targeted young, able-bodied persons with the aim of creating a thriving and productive colony. The rural community of Milton, Otago, in the South Island, was a farming settlement established predominantly by immigrants from the UK. The University of Otago undertook an excavation at St. John’s Anglican burial ground (SJM) in 2016 with the aim of reconstructing some aspects of the lives of these nineteenth-century European (Pākehā) settlers. One of the 27 individuals recovered, burial 29, was an adult female with a striking thoracic deformity and several other features suggestive of a skeletal growth disorder. Here, we combine multiple lines of bioarchaeological evidence to create an osteobiographyof this individual and discuss the implications of our findings for conceptions of disability, status, personhood, and social value in Victorian frontier society.   Tuhinga whakarāpopoto: Ko te puku o ngā tau o te rau tau 1800 te wā i matua heke ai ngā tāngata nō Ūropi ki te tuakoi tonga o te ao. Ko Niu Tīreni tonu i whakatairangahia ki te tūtūā o Peretānia hei Piritana hōu, he “Piritana Pai Ake ”; he whenua haumako, he huhua rauemi, he oranga ngāwari. Ko ēnei whakatairanga hei whaka- poapoa i te hunga rangatahi, i te hunga kua pakari tonu te tīnana hei tuarā hāpai i te koroni hōu, i te koroni tōnui i pīrangitia. Ko te taiwhenua o Milton i Ōtākou, i Te Waipounamu, tētehi hapori pāmu i whakatūria e ngā manene, ko te nuinga nō Peretānia. Nā Te Whare Wānanga o Ōtākou ngā rua kōiwi i te urupā Mihinare o Hato Hone (SJM) i keri ake i te tau 2016, ko te whainga matua ko te kimi kōrero mō ngā rā o ngā ao o ēnei tāngata whai nō Ūropi (Pākehā) i te rau tau 1800. Ko tētehi o te 27 tāngata i hahua, arā ko “nehunga 29”, he wahine pa- keke kua hauā rawa ōna kōiwi o te haurua o te tinana ō runga i tōna pito, ā, he tohu anō i kitea e hanga rite ana ki tētehi mate whakahauā kōiwi. I konei whakatōpūhia ai ngā taunakitanga maha kua puta i ngā whakamātautau kōiwi tangata hei waihanga anō i ngā rā o te ao o te wahine nei, ā, ka matapakina ā mātou whakapae mō ngā whakaaro o ngāi koroni wikitōria mō te hauā; mō tōna tūnga, mō tōna mana me tōna noho hei tangata i aua wā.


Author(s):  
Melandri Vlok ◽  
Hallie Buckley

The processes of human mobility have been well demonstrated to influence the spread of infectious disease globally in the present and the past. However, to date, paleoepidemiological research has focused more on factors of residential mobility and population density as drivers for epidemiological shifts in prehistoric infectious disease patterns. A strong body of epidemiological literature exists for the dynamics of infectious disease spread through networks of mobility and interaction. We review the epidemiological theory of infectious disease spread and propose frameworks for application of this theory to bioarchaeology. We outline problems with current definitions of prehistoric mobility and propose a framework shift with focus on population interactions as nodes for disease transmission. To conceptualize this new framework, we produced a theoretical model that considers the interplay between climate suitability, population density, residential mobility, and human interaction levels to influence infectious disease patterns in prehistoric assemblages. We then tested observable effects of this model in paleoepidemiological data from Asia (n = 343). Relative risk ratio analysis and correlations were used to test the impact of population interaction, residential mobility, population density, climate, and subsistence on the prevalence and diversity of infectious diseases. Our statistical results showed higher levels of population interaction led to significantly higher prevalence of infectious disease in sedentary populations and a significant increase in pathogen diversity in mobile populations. We recommend that population interaction be included as an important component of infectious disease analysis of prehistoric population health alongside other biosocial factors, such as sedentism and population density.   Daar is goed gedemonstreer dat die prosesse van menslike mobiliteit die verspreiding van aansteeklike siektes wêreldwyd in die hede en in die verlede beïnvloed. Maar tot op hede het paleo-epidemiologiese navorsing egter meer gefokus op faktore van residensiële mobiliteit en bevolkingsdigtheid as dryfvere vir epidemiologiese verskuiwings in die prehistoriese infeksiesiektepatrone. Sterk epidemiologiese literatuur bestaan vir die dinamika van aansteeklike siektes wat versprei word deur netwerke van mobiliteit en interaksie. Ons ondersoek die epidemiologiese teorie van die verspreiding van aansteeklike siektes en stel raamwerke voor vir die toepassing van hierdie teorie op die bio-argeologie. Ons skets probleme met huidige definisies van prehistoriese mobiliteit en stel ‘n raamwerk verskuiwing voor met die fokus op bevolkings-interaksies as nodusse vir oordrag van siektes. Om hierdie nuwe raamwerk te konseptualiseer, het ons ‘n teoretiese model vervaardig wat die wisselwerking tussen klimaatsgeskiktheid, bevolkingsdigtheid, residensiële mobiliteit en menslike interaksievlakke oorweeg om die infeksiesiektepatrone in prehistoriese samestellings te beïnvloed. Daarna het ons die waarneembare effekte van hierdie model getoets in paleo-epidemiologiese data uit Asië (n = 343). Relatiewe risiko-verhoudingsanalise en korrelasies is gebruik om die impak van bevolkings-interaksie, residensiële mobiliteit, bevolkingsdigtheid, klimaat en bestaan op die voorkoms en diversiteit van aansteeklike siektes te toets. Ons statistiese resultate het gedemonstreer dat hoër vlakke van bevolkings-interaksie gelei het tot aansienlik hoër voorkoms van aansteeklike siektes in sittende bevolkings en ‘n beduidende toename in patogeen diversiteit in mobiele bevolkings. Ons beveel aan dat bevolkings-interaksie ingesluit word as ‘n belangrike komponent van die aantstekingsiekte-ontleding van die prehistoriese bevolkingsgesondheid, tesame met ander biososiale faktore soos sedentisme en bevolkingsdigtheid.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gwen Robbins Schug ◽  
Siân Halcrow

Preface to Volume 5, Number 1 of Bioarchaeology International


Author(s):  
Nicole A. Jastremski ◽  
Alejandra Sánchez-Polo

There is very little published literature regarding pre-Columbian burial practices that include human skeletal remains of the Napo culture (A.D. 1188–1480) in the western Amazon. Due to poor bone preservation and a history of looting practices, bioarchaeologists have rarely been able to collect, analyze, and interpret skeletal remains. Here, we provide the initial publication of a human skeleton from the Ecuadorian Amazon belonging to the Napo culture, preserved in a funerary urn acquired by the Museo de Arte Precolombino Casa del Alabado in Quito, Ecuador. This partial adult skeleton, radiocarbon dated to cal A.D. 1021–1155, consists primarily of broken long bones that indicate a robust individual with a height range of 160–170 cm. Although no trauma was observed, pathological conditions including cysts and likely Osgood-Schlatter’s disease were present and robust muscle insertions were noted. Taphonomic damage from termite osteophagy was inferred by the presence of round bore holes, cavities, tunneling, and cortical etching on the humerus, femur, and tibia. The urn itself is an anthropomorphic polychrome vessel that opens at the bottom, with six equally spaced holes to facilitate closure. The urn burial is similar to those of other Amazonian Polychrome Tradition cultures located to the east in Brazil.   Las prácticas funerarias precolombinas que incluyen restos humanos esqueléticos de la cultura Napo (1188–1480 D.C.), en el oeste de la Amazonía, han sido escasamente dadas a conocer en la literatura arqueológica. Debido a la pobre preservación de los huesos en ese medio y a una dilatada trayectoria de huaquerismo, desde la bioarqueología no ha sido posible recoger, analizar e interpretar restos humanos. Este artículo trata de solventar este vacío al atender desde una perspectiva bioarqueológica los restos óseos humanos provenientes de la Amazonía ecuatoriana pertenecientes a la cultura Napo, preservados en una urna funeraria que se conserva en el Museo de Arte Precolombino Casa del Alabado en Quito, Ecuador. Por un lado, este esqueleto parcial del que se conservan huesos largos fragmentados de un adulto fue datado mediante técnicas radiométricas entre 1021 y 1155 cal D.C.Habría sido una persona robusta, con una altura que oscilaría entre los 160 y 170 cm. Aunque no se ha observado ningún traumatismo, las patologías registradas incluyen quistes, como los debidos a la enfermedad de Osgood-Schlatter, e inserciones musculares robustas. Entre las afecciones tafonómicas más relevantes, se han apreciado las causadas por osteofagia de termitas, las cuales se infieren por la presencia de perforaciones redondas, cavidades, túneles y decapado cortical en húmero, fémur y tibia. Por otro lado, la urna es un ejemplar antropomorfo policromado de apertura basal con seis orificios espaciados que ayudaban a cerrarla. El entierro en urna es similar a aquellos otros de las culturas de la Tradición Polícroma Amazónica localizadas al este en Brasil.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document