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Bioarchaeological research of bone growth patterns provides information on the health status and disease of past populations. Recent studies have pointed out the potential of metric analysis of nonadult vertebrae as indicators of stress during different stages of ontogeny, highlighting that most vertebral measurements present low sexual dimorphism, a stable and known pattern of growth and give useful information even in incomplete spines. The aims of this paper are first, to construct a vertebral growth profile for nonadults of a skeletal series of Patagonian Late Holocene hunter‐gatherers from Salitroso Lake (SAC); second, to compare it to the ones obtained in other archaeological and modern populations with different stress experiences; and third, building on this, to assess whether individuals with evidence of stress experienced in early development demonstrate different patterns in vertebral growth than those without. Two spinal dimensions are used: vertebral body height (VBH) and transverse diameter of the neural canal (TDNC) in a sample of 23 nonadult skeletons with ages previously estimated from dental and bone indicators. The vertebral dimensions of 20 adults between 18 and 35 years of age were also measured as reference information. Results show that the growth of the VBH is steady over the years and reaches adulthood size by approximately 16 years of age whereas TDNC dimensions do not experience marked fluctuations in size throughout life and adult dimensions are reached at approximately 4 years of age as expected. The vertebral growth pattern observed in SAC is similar to that obtained in other archaeological samples from very different settings but experiencing relatively high nutritional or pathological stress in early stages of life. However, it is markedly different, and systematically smaller, to the 20th century sample pattern, probably responding to a secular trend in the modern population with a more stable access to resources and medical treatment. Finally, SAC individuals with systemic stress markers do not tend to exhibit smaller vertebral dimensions than those without them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the implications of the conformation of formal burial areas in the southernmost limit of agricultural dispersion in South America. Previous research proposed the development of cemeteries or formal burial areas due to specialization in using specific habitats and the development of territorial ownership. From a paleoecological background, we hypothesize that hunter‐gatherers intensified resource exploitation and develop territoriality in population growth and pressure over resources. The expectation is that formal burial areas emerged in this context to legitimize the ties with the territory and ensure exclusive access to the land and its resources. To evaluate this hypothesis, we analyzed a mortuary context from southern Mendoza (Central Western Argentina), named Ojo de Agua, by describing the site's characteristics, burial modality, presence of grave goods, age at death profile, and evidence of violence. This site has two main conditions for handling our hypothesis: (1) the chronology and spatial localization coincide with the temporal and geographic dispersion of pre‐Hispanic cultigens; (2) systematic procedures during fieldwork led us to access a significant amount of information not available in other mortuary contexts of the area. Our results point to Ojo de Agua as a cemetery that emerged in the frame of increasing territoriality and conflict with neighboring groups and permitted us to improve our knowledge about the dynamic relationship between human population, environment, and cultural responses in the context of intensification and contact with food production. These results deepen recent studies in the same line but with a greater resolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, wildlife is one of the most important sources of zoonoses, and it is a major concern for public health. Nevertheless, little is known about the role of wildlife as a reservoir and source of infectious diseases in the past. South America presents a wide diversity of wildlife. In the south of the continent, Argentina shelters a large diversity of neotropical carnivores. Although the paleoparasitological studies on carnivores have been increasing in southern Argentina, most of the efforts have been focused in a handful of sites located in western Patagonia. In this paper, two coprolites of felid found in Cueva Galpón, an initial late Holocene mortuary site from northeast Patagonia (Argentina), were studied for paleoparasitological purposes. Samples were processed by rehydration and homogenization, filtered and processed by spontaneous sedimentation. The samples were assigned to Puma concolor (puma) or Panthera onca (jaguar). Microscopic observations revealed that both coprolites were positive for parasite remains. High parasite richness was observed. Six nematodes, one cestode, and one coccidian morphotypes were reported. This is the first time that Gnathostoma sp. and Spirocerca sp. were recovered from holocenic times from Patagonia. This finding implies that some diseases such as taeniasis, spirocercosis, gnathostomosis, ascariasis, and coccidiosis could be present in holocenic wildlife from Patagonia prior to the Spanish colonization and domestic animal introduction. The overall results suggest that felids could have played a role as reservoirs and source of some parasitic species, some of which are zoonotic. Therefore, this animal could have entailed a risk agent for human health in the site. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous researches have examined the zooarchaeological record to understand changes in human diet in central western Argentina through time. This research has focused on variations in the relative abundance of large prey in archaeofaunal contexts. The observed changes were explained by a decrease in residentialmobility, forced by both the intensification in the use of resources and the introduction of the first domesticated plants ca. 2000 years BP. In this paper, we revised archaeofaunal interpretations by taking into account zooarchaeological assemblages and human isotope records within the biogeographical distributions of prey in the region. Our results demonstrate that faunal diversity in zooarchaeological assemblages has a stronger correlation with the natural distribution of resources (especially with altitude) than with chronology, as was proposed previously. However, archaeofaunal information, including human isotopic data, suggests that a decrease in residential mobility, postulated in a previous paper, took place, modifying the expected diversity distribution throughout the landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A biogeographic model used to describe human peopling of southern Mendoza, central western Argentina, proposed an intensification process activated by an increase in population growth rate during the Late Holocene. During this process, high‐ranked resources at the surroundings of residential camps were depleted, and hunter–gatherers broadened their diet by incorporating a larger number of low‐ranked prey and domesticated plant resources. In this paper, we evaluate an alternative hypothesis, focusing on zooarchaeological data from the Diamante River basin. The results show that faunal resource intensification does not appear to have occurred in the Diamante River basin during the Late Holocene. Faunal consumption in Diamante River basin mainly reflects the local fauna in each ecological zone. The data do not show a lack of higher ranked resources. We suggest it is more likely that the demographic increase was not significant enough to cause an impact on the faunal resources. The archaeological evidence should be improved and analysed in smaller scales to continue with the intensification debate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Systematic excavation of collective burial sites makes possible the recovery of skeletal series which may show bony evidence of infectious pathological conditions. This paper presents the first evidence of the existence of tuberculosis in prehistoric populations of NW Argentina with a subsistence economy based on agriculture and pastoralism. The study was carried out on individuals from Rincón Chico 21 cemetery, a burial site located in the Santa María Valley, Catamarca, used between the Late Ceramic Period and the onset of the Inca empire expansion (AD 1000-1400). Six individuals out of the 70 so far excavated showed destructive lesions in the vertebral bodies and periosteal reactions in other bones. The morphology and distribution of bone lesions led us to rule out several diseases from a broad spectrum of possible diseases that could have affected the skeletal system. Thus, the lesions were interpreted as caused by mycobacterial infections ( Mycobacterium tuberculosis Complex). Considering previous studies on the dynamics of biocultural interactions which take into account information related from contextual associations and chronology, we can conclude that a tuberculosis-like disease was present in prehistoric populations from NW Argentina. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The archaeological record of the Late Prehispanic Period of Sierras of Córdoba, Argentina (~1220–330 cal BP) has revealed a rich and highly developed bone industry. The worked bones are purported to include various types of hunting or warfare weapons such as arrowheads, knives and daggers, or bleeders. However, most of the latter two tools can now be interpreted as spear or spear‐thrower dart heads based on ethnographic and macro‐wear studies. Thus, the aim of this article is to present the techno‐typological and functional analysis carried out on the bone spearheads collected at the San Roque archaeological locality (Villa Carlos Paz, Argentina). Spearheads are defined as massive and strong pointed tools that are suitable for hafting to a shaft about 15 mm or more in diameter, which corresponds to ethnographic spears or darts. The tools were assigned to the Late Prehispanic Period based on their similarity with those recovered in neighboring sites and regions during the last 1,500 years. The study supports the contention that Late Prehispanic people developed a variable and highly sophisticated set of weapons suitable for taking any animal resource when encountered, minimizing the cost of failure in the capture of the prey they depended on. However, warfare and the use of spears in raids against other groups need to be taken into account because evidence of physical interpersonal violence increases in the Late Prehispanic Period. Finally, it is proposed that museum collections can provide valuable data for archaeologists, mostly when artifacts with low frequency in modern excavations are the focus of the analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents cases of treponematosis in at least five individuals from different archeological sites in southern North Eastern Argentina and discusses how these cases were linked to the ways of life of the pre‐Hispanic groups that inhabited this region for at least 2000 years. We carried out the reanalysis and reinterpretation of some of the pathological cases, including a comparison between our observations and previous diagnoses made by other authors. Thirty‐three bone elements corresponding to a minimum number of five adults from three archeological sites were analyzed. These sites were excavated in the early and mid‐20th century, and the archeological materials are currently under the guardianship of different museums. The macroscopic description of bone lesions was surveyed. The bone lesions in long bones, mainly saber shin appearance in tibiae, and one cranial vault are consistent with the development of treponematosis. This diagnosis in five individuals in the south of North Eastern Argentina adds to the two cases previously reported. The discussion is focused on the link between the presence of this pathology and the ethnohistorical, archeological, and environmental context of the studied area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this work is to evaluate temporal variation of dento‐alveolar lesions in hunter‐gatherer groups who inhabited the middle course of the Negro River during the late Holocene (ca. 3000‐750 years BP) in order to discuss cultural practices and changes in the paleodiet. Caries, dental calculus, periodontal disease, periapical lesions, antemortem tooth loss, tooth wear, dislocation, and osteoarthrosic lesions in the temporomandibular joint were analysed. The sample is represented by 567 teeth and 547 alveoli, corresponding to 32 adult and subadult individuals, who were divided into two periods for comparative purposes: pre‐1000 and post‐1000 BP. The results indicate a low prevalence of oral lesions without differences between sex and age. In the pre‐1000 BP period, there is a larger frequency of antemortem tooth loss, parafunctional wear of the anterior teeth, dental dislocations, and osteoarthrosis in the mandibular condyles compared with the post‐1000 period. This tendency indicates that the individuals would have been exposed to greater stress in chewing. However, the variations were not significant, so there is no clear evidence of changes in the diet and particularly in carbohydrate and plant intake through the late Holocene. Severe tooth wear is the main factor that caused some pathologies (e.g., antemortem tooth loss), and limited the development of others (e.g., caries). The results obtained here agree with other microregions from northeastern Patagonia and differ from Humid Pampas, eastern Pampa‐Patagonian transition, and lower course of the Negro River due to differences in carbohydrate consumption in the last ca. 1000 years BP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Micromammalian bone assemblages from modern pellets of the strigiform Bubo virginianus magellanicus, from the upper Atuel River (southern Mendoza, Argentina), were taphonomically analysed. The results allow us to place B. v. magellanicus in the category of intermediate modification (Category 2). This sample has also been compared with results from other members of this genus, in order to classify B. v. magellanicus as a taphonomic agent. The participation of the Bubo species in archaeological accumulations has been documented, but in Argentina, the role of B. v. magellanicus has been reported up to the present. It is partly because of the sequence of one archaeological site in the south of Mendoza Province called Laguna El Sosneado-3 (LS-3). However, considering the absence of a current taphonomic model of this owl, this participation was mentioned as a hypothesis. In the current investigation, archaeological and modern samples have been compared. The results indicate that the skeletal element assemblages recovered from LS-3 were accumulated by strigiform birds. Taphonomical evidence of light modifications on units I and IV indicates that Tyto alba (Category 1) was probably the main species involved in these units, whereas the taphonomical evidence on skeletal element assemblages recovered from units II and III suggests the action of a strigiform with a major category of modification such as B. v. magellanicus. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objectives of this work are to present a set of methodological procedures to analyse commingled bone assemblages (e.g. secondary burials), in order to build the mortality profile of the Paso Alsina 1 site and discuss the obtained age at death distribution in a context of hunter-gatherer populations that inhabited the eastern Pampa-Patagonia transition (Argentina) during the Final Late Holocene. The Paso Alsina 1 site is a formal disposal area of inhumations composed by multiple secondary burials dated at ca. 500 14C years BP. The site is comprised of a minimum number of 77 individuals, represented by both sexes and all age categories. The mortality profile is characterized by a bimodal pattern with a peak of greater representation of individuals younger than 3 years and another comprising the range between 20 and 34.9 years old. These results are discussed in relation to the paleopathological information available for the site, indicating that individuals suffered mainly disruptions in growth and development by systemic stress. The mortality profile obtained suggests that this skeletal series would not have formed as a result of a catastrophic event. On the contrary, it is an atricionalmortality profile, consisting of individuals who died at different times and places and for varied reasons. Later, skeletal remains were grouped into secondary bundles and simultaneously buried at the site. Bodymanipulation and secondary burials are common in the context of a social reorganization that occurred in the area and in neighbouring regions during the Final Late Holocene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this work is to study, from a bioarchaeological perspective, the diet and oral health of the populations that inhabited Central Argentina in two periods which would reflect changes in subsistence strategies: earlier late Holocene (ca. 2500-1500 years BP) and later late Holocene (ca.1500-400 years BP). The sample is composed by 83 adult individuals from 47 archaeological sites. We considered five non-specific indicators of stress, infectious and degenerative diseases: hypoplasia of dental enamel, dental caries, abscesses, antemortem teeth loss, and calculus. We also considered hypercementosis, dens in dens, and agenesis. We test intraobserver error by means of intraclass correlation coefficient and analysis of variance of repeated measures. We calculated prevalence by sex, age, geographic subregion, and chronological period. We applied Chi-square (X2) to test statistical significance of observed differences. Considering the sample as a whole, low prevalence of dental caries (10.27%), abscesses (16.52%), and hypoplasia (10.84%) are coincident with values observed for populations with mixed or hunter-gathering subsistence strategy. In later late Holocene, high incidence of caries should be considered as indicator of consumption of C4 vegetables or other carbohydrate-rich vegetables, such as legumes of Prosopis sp. Also, moderate values of dental enamel hypoplasia should be related with metabolic-systemic stress episodes. Summarizing, these results are coincident with isotopic, archaeological, and ethnohistorical evidences which suggest climatic, social, and demographic pressures that might have affected the lifestyle of these populations before the Spanish conquest. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This article explores the levels of fragmentation and fracture patterns in archaeofaunal assemblages from the lower basin of the Colorado River (Argentina) following Outram's methodology. Remains of ungulates (guanaco) have suffered, in these assemblages, a high degree of fragmentation probably caused during the processing of the carcasses. The presence of helical debris and shaft fragments indicates that fragmentation would respond to processing tasks for the consumption of marrow and possibly bone grease. The results of the application of this methodology that were obtained from the analysis of three late Holocene sites (La Primavera, Loma Ruiz 1 and El Tigre) are presented. These results provide new evidence not only for patterns of marrow and bone grease consumption but also for dealing with the subsistence model proposed for the study area. In this sense, the intensification processes already proposed during the final late Holocene (1000-250 bp) are discussed. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]