Biological distances between Late Holocene hunter‐gatherers from the lower Paraná wetland (Argentina)

MAZZA, BÁRBARA

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF HUMAN BIOLOGY

WILEY-LISS, DIV JOHN WILEY & SONS INC

Año: 2023 vol. 35

1042-0533

Introduction: This study assesses the biological affinity between Late Holocenehunter-gatherers that inhabited the region of the lower Parana wetland(Argentina) at the end of the Late Holocene (1800–700 years BP).Methods: Cranial nonmetric traits were registered in 159 adult individuals ofboth sexes. Biodistances were estimated between environmental and archaeologicalunits through Smith´s Mean Measure of Divergence, Mahalanobis distance,multidimensional scaling, Fst index, and R-matrix. Biological distancesconcerning temporal and geographic distances between the archaeologicalsites were also evaluated through Mantel and partial Mantel tests.Results: The environmental units showed statistically significant biodistancesaccording to a distance spatial pattern but low genetic differentiation betweengroups. Additionally, some archaeological sites with median radiocarbon datesaround 700 years BP also presented statistically significant biodistances.Conclusions: Gene flow and genetic drift could be responsible for theobserved biodistance results. These processes gave rise to different subpopulationsof hunter-gatherers with a shared material culture, whose territoriallimits could have been reinforced around 700 years BP or earlier.