Possibilities and Limitations of Human Bone Record in Southern Patagonia

SUBY JORGE; GUICHÓN RICARDO; SALEMME MÓNICA; SANTIAGO FERNANDO

FUMDHAMentos

Fundação Museu do Homem Americano

Lugar: São Raimundo Nonato (Piaui - Brasil); Año: 2008 vol. 7 p. 348 - 363

0104-351X

According to the peopling model proposed by Borrero, the exploration, colonization and effectiveoccupation of Fuego-Patagonia was a slow and complex process, which resulted in ecological andcultural changes for the first human populations in the southernmost extreme of America. In thesame way, the human peopling of these new ecosystems could have implied a potential source ofdiseases and adaptation of health patterns. This presentation focuses on our first steps in theexploration of the possible impact of Fuego-Patagonia peopling in human health. We study theresolution of bioarchaeological record (human remains corresponding to 562 individuals) to analysethis process, taking into account the taphonomic information related to spatial and temporal contexts,and the paleopathological studies formulated in the last years. In this sense, we analyse, amongother materials, the first paleopathological results from the recent recovered skeleton in ?La Arcillosa2? site in Tierra del Fuego (5200 years BP), one of the earliest complete and articulated in thisregion. These results include the analyses of long bone cross-sectional geometry for theinterpretation of lifestyle and nutritional patterns in Southern Patagonia.