Metadata and paleopathology in Austral Patagonia

D'ANGELO DEL CAMPO, MANUEL; GARCÍA LABORDE, PAMELA; VALENZUELA, LUCIANO O; MOTTI, JOSEFINA; GUICHÓN, RICARDO

Buenos Aires

Congreso; VI Congreso de la Asociación de Paleopatología en Sudamérica; 2015

A central element in paleopathology, as in medicine, is the differentialdiagnosis. Beyond the skills of the person that is in charge of the diagnosis,greater information about the subject that is being study would allow a betterdiagnosis. Therefore, this information known as metadata results of great valueduring a paleopathological analysis. The metadata can be split into two levels:first, those associated directly the study sample, i.e., information related tothe type of sample, to context to the remains and the current location of theremains. The second level is inherent to the analyses being performed:genetics, histological, stable isotopes, etc. At this second level the metadataare the techniques and procedures used, the bones utilized for the analysis,the laboratories where analysis was conducted and the identification number. Togain knowledge of the treatment that metadata had in paleopathology in thePatagonia Austral region we surveyed 67 publications from 1976 to current timesin journals, conferences, books and doctoral thesis. The results show that themetadata have not been appropriately considered, particularly noting the caseswhere there is no indication of which individual was studied or thosepublications that do not indicate the current location of the samples.