A case of multiple metastasis in hunter-gatherers of Argentine Pampean Region.

LUNA, L., C. ARANDA, L. BOSIO Y M. BERÓN

International Journal of Osteoarchaeology.

IJO

Lugar: Washington; Año: 2006

Chenque I site is a prehistoric cemetery located in Lihué Calel National Park (La Pampa province), in Western Pampean Region, Argentina. Hunter-gatherer societies made use of this site during the Final Late Holocene, throughout, at least, 700 years. Up to now 33 burial structures have been excavated, and more than 100 individuals have been recognized. Great variability in mortuary modalities of inhumation have been recorded (simple, multiple, primary, secondary burials, and also a variant not previously registered in the country). Through the evaluation of several biological and cultural aspects, the way of living of this population has been investigated. Several pathologies have been also identified in this cemetery. Burial Nº 12 contains a skeleton of an adult male that shows multiple pathological lesions, compatible with those originated by a neoplastic disease. These lesions have been analyzed using several methodological strategies: macroscopic, radiological and microscopic. This is the first time that this kind of disease is identified from a prehistoric burial in Argentina. In this paper the location and characteristics of the lesions are evaluated, and different neoplastic diseases that could have produced them are discussed. Since the people buried in this cemetery belonged to societies that had a high logistic mobility, it is a key issue to infer the consequences that this kind of disease could have produced in the dynamic of the group in which this person lived, because of his gradual health and physical strength deterioration.