Artificial cranial deformation in South American: A quantitative approach to cultural variation.

PEREZ SERGIO IVAN.; CARDILLO MARCELO; GONZALEZ, PAULA N.

Arqueología y Evolución.

Series de Complejidad Humana. Editorial SB

Lugar: Buenos Aires; Año: 2009; p. 87 - 107

The present work studies the variation in shape of artificial cranialdeformation among groups in southern South America using archaeologicalsamples. For this purpose we employ geometric morphometric techniques andmultivariate statistical methods. These methods allow us discuss the importance ofdifferent cultural models to better understand the pattern of cranial deformationvariation observed among groups of southern South America. The results obtainedshow that this variation could be interpreted employing within-groups transmissionof information, independent innovation, and ethnogenetic models. Moreover, insome areas the cranial deformation could be used during the later late Holocene toreinforce group identity or as territorial or social boundary demarcation.Particularly, it is important to point out the differences observed between Bolivianand neighbor groups, as well as between hunter-gatherers and agriculturist in thelater late Holocene. The application of multivariate methods shows that any modelfully explains the observed pattern of variation in shape. Likewise, the differentmodels can be used to understand the observed variation in a satisfying way.