Osteoarthrosis of the vertebral column in hunter-gatherer societies at the Lower Paraná Wetlands, Argentina

BÁRBARA MAZZA

Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires

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

Vertebral pathologies related to degenerative changes of the articular cartilageare a common disease that characterizes most of the hunter-gatherer societiesat a worldwide level. Its presence has been related to intrinsic factors (age, sex, genetics) and external factors (mechanical-function stress) (Waldron 2009). The objective of this work is to evaluate the presence of osteoarthrosis (OA) for analyzing social differences among individuals of the hunter-gatherer societies at the lower Parana wetlands, Argentina, chronologically located at the end of the Late Holocene (2000-700 years BP). In this sense, a sample of 2450 articular vertebral facets was analyzed, composed of apophysis and of bodies of the three vertebral segments (cervical, thoracic and lumbar) of adult individuals of both sexes. Variables such as porosity, eburnation, marginal osteophytes (Buikstra and Ubelaker 1994) and remodeling on the apophyseal facets (Sofaer Deverenski 2000) were registered. From the analysis OA were summarized in low, moderate and high degrees. We analyzed differences between individualsof both sexes as also among three sub-environmental units that conform thestudied area (Delta, Planicies inundables y Bajíos Ribereños). The results showa moderate prevalence of OA (34.33%) for the entire sample, both present infemale and male individuals. The statistical results about the differences observed in the manifestation of the aforementioned variables in both sexes, aged controls and the differences observed among the environmental areas allow us to propose that the differences observed could be due to the performance of different activities for each sex, possibly related to, in the case of male individuals, with the carrying of heavy object on the back, among other movements.