Inferences on mobility and subsistence patterns from degenerative joint disease and entheseal changes. Trends in the farmer/forager border (Central-Western Argentina).

GIL, ADOLFO; LUNA, LEANDRO H.; PERALTA, EVA

HOMO

Gebruder Borntraeger Verlagsbuchhandlung

Año: 2021 vol. 72 p. 327 - 346

0018-442X

This study tests the hypothesis that the incorporation of cultigens about ca. 2000 years BP substantially changedhunter-gatherer subsistence and mobility in the Atuel River valley (Central-Western Argentina), where the frontier of pre-Hispanic domesticated resource dispersion was defined. Degenerative joint disease and entheseal change markers wereanalyzed on skeletal remains from Cañada Seca-1, a burial archaeological site with commingled skeletal remains datedabout ca. 1500 years BP (MNI = 24). The results show lower mobility in comparison with hunter-gatherer remains from theneighboring Pampa region and quite different manual activities compared to low-level producers. These trends are explainedas a result of a mixed subsistence strategy and mobility in an area where the incorporation of domesticated plants was neithera linear nor a fast process, and a stereotypical view proves to be insufficient to understand it. Although further informationis required for future discussions, the present research highlights the potential of commingled skeletal remains for thiskind of study.