Does the shape make a difference? Evaluating the ethnic role of cranial modification in Pampa-Patagonia region (Argentina) during the late Holocene

PRATES, L.; SERNA, A.; FLENSBORG, G.; MARTÍNEZ, G.; FAVIER DUBOIS, C.; PEREZ, S.I.

Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences

Springer Publishing

Lugar: New York; Año: 2018

1866-9557

The aims of this paper are todescribe cranial vault morphological variation and to study its spatial andtemporal distribution in northeastern Patagonia and southeastern Pampas(Argentina). Results are discussed as part of the debate on potential ethnicdifferentiation during the late Holocene. For this purpose, 216 adult male andfemale skulls were analyzed using geometric morphometric techniques in 2D andmultivariate statistical procedures. We observed that morphological variationis continuous throughout the study area but two basic morphologies resultingfrom cultural actions can be differentiated. One is defined by a fronto-occipitalflattening (F-O) and the other by a compression in the lambdoid-occipital zone(L-O). These morphologies spread regularly over the area but they arechronologically arranged: the F-O date to the initial late Holocene, and the L-Oto the final late Holocene.Since similar chronological patterns have been observed at a much largerspatial scale, we propose that cranial vault modification in the area did not transmita message of ethnic differentiation. Cranial vault modification would have been shared andimitated by different people over Pampa and Patagonia during the late Holocene.