Health and disease of native human populations in Patagonia Austral, first steps, results and perspectives

FUGASSA, M.H., SUBY, J., GUICHÓN, R.A. Y RODRIGUEZ MARTÍN, C.

Río de Janeiro.

Congreso; Paleopatholohy Association Meeting in South America; 2005

Paleopahtology Association

 The health and disease of hunter-gatherer populations in the austral extremity of South American has been barely studied in pre and post native - European contact periods. Its exploration requires an interdisciplinary collaboration, which must include data from archaeology, anthropology, biology and history. The aim of this communication is to present the first steps of the collaboration between specialists in these areas. At the outset, we were interested in investigating which diseases may have been associated with hunter-gatherer populations in high latitude environments, as well as the diseases that were prevalent in the contact process in Tierra del Fuego. Additionally, we analyze the epidemiology of direct and indirect contact from a historical-biological point of view. We have begun paleoparasitological analysis of coprolites from archaeological sites, and of sediments associated to the archaeological human record. Since the human bone assemblages are of key-importance to our studies, we have started to examine  skeletal series in several museums and excavations and to assess human bones from archaeological sites of pre and post contact periods. We are exploring the relationships between survivorship frequencies and intrinsic bone properties throughout time and geographical parameters. In this communication we present our preliminary results and discuss further investigative strategies.