Dental enamel hypoplasias in Late Holocene hunter-gatherers from Southern Patagonia

SOLANA GARCÍA GURAIEB

Necochea

Congreso; PAMINSA III. Third Paloepathology Meeting in South America; 2009

Laboratorio de Ecología Evolutiva, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, UNICEN /Paleopathology Association

Archaeological research in Lake Salitroso Basin (Patagonia, Argentina) has led to the excavation of an osteological sample of 69 individuals, recovered from burial structures locally called chenques. These burials are dated between ca. 1500 and 350 years BP, with the 90% of the radiocarbon dates clustered between ca. 750 and 350 years BP. During the last millennia,Patagonia has undergone a progressive change towards dryer environmental conditions.Different lines of inquiry suggest that the hunter-gatherers, from which this osteological sample is drawn, would have coped with these environmental changes by decreasing their residential mobility and making a more prolonged and stable use of spaces with critical resources and habitability conditions, such as lake Salitroso Basin. Paleopathological studies on this sample have aimed to assess the health consequences of these organizational changes. Preliminary results have shown relatively high frequencies of linear dental enamel hypoplasias in comparison with both other stress markers and health conditions recorded in the sample and other hunter-gatherers samples in the country. This paper aims to complete these partial studies, by assessing the prevalence, sex and age distribution and time of formation of LHED in the entire available sample. LHED were recorded in the anterior permanent teeth of all the individuals available for the study (N=20 individuals). The age of formation of LHED was estimated using the new data on crown formation of Reid and Dean (2006) as a standard. The results are assessed in relation to the mortality profiles built for the Lake Salitroso sample and are discussed within the archaeological models that guide regional investigations.