Developmental defects in the spine: initial findings in archaeological cases from Córdoba Highlands (Argentina)

FABRA, MARIANA; SALEGA, MARIA SOLEDAD

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF OSTEOARCHAEOLOGY

John Wiley & Sons

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2016 p. 397 - 407

1099 1212

Congenital disorders are pathologies rarely found in archaeological cases. In recent years, however, there hasbeen an increase in the number of reported cases, and a growing interest in understanding their developmentand implication as genetic markers within certain collections. In the central region of Argentina, researchershave begun to focus on issues related to the health of prehispanic populations from a bioarchaeologicalperspective. Between 1999 and 2012 our research group recovered, by rescue archaeological activities, a totalnumber of 62 individuals from different archaeological sites in the province of Córdoba, from which only threeindividuals with pathologies classified as congenital were recorded (4.83%). Radiocarbon and contextualinformation sets these individuals in the late Holocene (2156± 86 and 920± 20 14C years BP). Hence, this workaims at presenting two pathological conditions deriving from congenital developmental abnormalities that ariseduring the first three months of pregnancy: (a) Klippel?Feil syndrome (type II) which was suffered by theindividuals from the sites of Guasmara and El Vado, and (b) central sagittal fissure of the vertebral body or?butterfly vertebra? as in the case of one individual from La Calera. We also analyse other lesions in theseskeletons that may be associated with the conditions mentioned above, and we provide a thorough interpretationfrom an osteobiographical perspective