INVESTIGADORES
GONZALEZ-JOSE Rolando
capítulos de libros
Título:
External auditory exostosis “at the end of the world”: the southernmost evidence according to the latitudinal hypothesis
Autor/es:
PAOLA PONCE,; GABRIELA GHIDINI,; GONZÁLEZ-JOSÉ, ROLANDO
Libro:
Proceedings of the Eighth Annual Conference the British Association Biological Anthropology Osteoarchaeology
Editorial:
Archaeopress
Referencias:
Año: 2008; p. 101 - 107
Resumen:
External auditory exostoses (EAE) are bony anomalies of the external auricular canal associated with prolongedexposure to cold water. According to the latitudinal hypothesis proposed by Kennedy (1986), its prevalence falls as thelatitude increases north and south above 45º, due to the risk of hypothermia from swimming in cold waters. The aim ofthis paper was to examine the evidence for EAE in the southernmost ethnographic groups who ever inhabited the world.For this purpose, 108 crania of adult males and females housed at different museums were used. They belonged toAmerindians from Tierra del Fuego who practised two different life strategies, a terrestrial hunting-gathering economyand an adaptation to marine resources. Six crania exhibited EAE (5.5%) from which only one was male (0.9%) and fivewere females (4.6%). Five out of 55 crania (9.1%) whose subsistence economy was mainly based on marine productsexhibited EAE. On the other hand, among those whose diet was primarily based on terrestrial resources, the prevalencewas 1.9% (one out of 53 crania had EAE). Although the prevalence difference between both groups was not statisticallysignificant (p>0.05), these results suggest that EAE might be associated with exposure to cold water due to exploitationof marine resources although further investigations are necessary to confirm this hypothesis. In accordance withKennedy’s hypothesis the frequency of EAE was low, as expected in such a hostile and harsh cold environment.