INFANCY AND CHILDHOOD IN HUNTER-GATHERER GROUPS OF PATAGONIA: A METHODOLOGICAL PROPOSAL FOR THE ANALYSIS OF THEIR BIOARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD ANALYSIS

GUICHÓN FERNÁNDEZ, ROCÍO; GARCÍA GURAIEB, SOLANA; MILENA CONSTANZA MORLESÍN; BORELLA, FLORENCIA

Congreso; XV CONFERENCIA ANUAL DE LA SOCIEDAD PARA EL ESTUDIO DE LA INFANCIA EN EL PASADO; 2023

This study presents a methodological approach for the analysis of the integrity and preservation of the non-adult bioarchaeological record in archaeological contexts of hunter-gatherers in Patagonia (Argentina). Human bone assemblages from these populations are frequently found isolated and dispersed, covering large areas, with a great diversity of mortuary practices, contexts of discovery, taphonomic trajectories, and forms of recovery, resulting in bioarchaeological samples with different degrees of archaeological resolution. This variability, together with osteological changes during the process of growth and development, has a differential impact on the visibility and anatomical representation of this age group compared to adults. The methodological design proposed here articulates: a) a corpus of tools for bone quantification and assessment of bone integrity at different biological ages, b) the adequacy of different scales and units of analysis according to the contexts of discovery, and c) an evaluation of the taphonomic processes and effects involved in the formation of the bioarchaeological record (intrinsic and extrinsic factors). This analytical proposal allows us to address the diversity of bone representation, integrity, and preservation of non-adults in hunter-gatherer mortuary contexts. Knowledge about the degree of resolution of the bioarchaeological record of non-adult is fundamental for adjusting the type of research questions, hypotheses and archaeological expectations about infancy, and childhood in research programs on past populations in general and hunter-gatherers in particular.