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It is now widely agreed that the Native American founders originated from a Beringian source population ~15-18 thousand years ago (kya) and rapidly populated all of the New World, probably mainly following the Pacific coastal route. However, details about the migration into the Americas and the routes pursued on the continent still remain unresolved, despite numerous genetic, archaeological, and linguistic investigations. To examine the pioneering peopling phase of the South American continent, we screened literature and mtDNA databases and identified two novel mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) clades, here named D1g and D1j, within the pan-American haplogroup D1. They both show overall rare occurrences but local high frequencies, and are essentially restricted to populations from the Southern Cone of South America (Chile and Argentina). We selected and completely sequenced 43 D1g and D1j mtDNA genomes applying highest quality standards. Molecular and phylogeographic analyses revealed extensive variation within each of the two clades and possibly distinct dispersal patterns. Their age estimates agree with the dating of the earliest archaeological sites in South America and indicate that the Paleo-Indian spread along the entire longitude of the American double continent might have taken even <2000 yr. This study confirms that major sampling and sequencing efforts are mandatory for uncovering all of the most basal variation in the Native American mtDNA haplogroups and for clarification of Paleo-Indian migrations, by targeting, if possible, both the general mixed population of national states and autochthonous Native American groups, especially in South America.

Episodes of population loss and cultural change, including the famous Classic Collapse, punctuated the long course of Maya civilization. In many cases, these downturns in the fortunes of individual sites and entire regions included significant environmental components such as droughts or anthropogenic environmental degradation. Some afflicted areas remained depopulated for long periods, whereas others recovered more quickly. We examine the dynamics of growth and decline in several areas in the Maya Lowlands in terms of both environmental and cultural resilience and with a focus on downturns that occurred in the Terminal Preclassic (second century Common Era) and Terminal Classic (9th and 10th centuries CE) periods. This examination of available data indicates that the elevated interior areas of the Yucatán Peninsula were more susceptible to system collapse and less suitable for resilient recovery than adjacent lower-lying areas.

Getting at the Maya Collapse has both temporal and geographic dimensions, because it occurred over centuries and great distances. This requires a wide range of research sites and proxy records, ranging from lake cores to geomorphic evidence, such as stratigraphy and speleothems. This article synthesizes these lines of evidence, together with previously undescribed findings on Maya wetland formation and use in a key region near the heart of the central Maya Lowlands. Growing lines of evidence point to dryer periods in Maya history, which correlate to major periods of transition. The main line of evidence in this paper comes from wetland use and formation studies, which show evidence for both large-scale environmental change and human adaptation or response. Based on multiproxy studies, Maya wetland fields had a long and varied history, but most evidence indicates the start of disuse during or shortly after the Maya Terminal Classic. Hence, the pervasiveness of collapse extended into a range of wetlands, including perennial wetlands, which should have been less responsive to drought as a driver of disuse. A synthesis of the lines of evidence for canal infilling shows no attempts to reclaim them after the Classic Period.

Adult stature and body mass represent fundamental biological characteristics of individuals and populations, as they are relevant to a range of problems from assessing nutrition and health to longer term evolutionary processes. Stature and body mass estimation from skeletal dimensions are therefore key to addressing biological and social questions about past populations. Anatomical reconstruction provides the most direct proxy for living stature but is only suitable for well-preserved remains. Regression equations for estimating stature from bone lengths are therefore extremely useful, though it is well recognized that differences in body proportions limit the cross-application of equations between samples. Here, we assess the accuracy of published stature estimation equations from worldwide and New World groups applied to archaeological samples from the central Andean coast and highlands of South America. As no existing equations are clearly appropriate, new sample-specific regression equations are presented. Anatomical stature reconstruction is further complicated by artificial cranial modification (ACM) influencing cranial height in Andean samples, so this problem is investigated in the current sample. Although ACM has minimal impact here, the possibility should be explored in other samples before anatomical stature estimation is attempted. Recommendations are also made for estimating body mass from femoral head diameter. The mean of three previously published equations is shown to offer minimal bias and the most reliable estimate of body mass in the study samples., (Copyright © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Ancient DNA was recovered from 17 individuals found in a rock shelter in the district of "La Purnia" (Santander, Colombia). This region is the homeland of pre-Columbian Guane, whom spread over the "Río Suarez" to the "Río de Oro", and were surrounded to the west by the Central Andes, south and east by foothills of Eastern Andes, and north by the "Chicamocha" river canyon. Guanes established in a region that straddles the Andes and the northern Amazon basin, possibly making it an unavoidable conduit for people moving to and from South America. We amplified mtDNA hypervariable region I (HVI) segments from ancient bone remains, and the resulting sequences were compared with both ancient and modern mitochondrial haplogroups from American and non-American populations. Samples showed a distribution of 35% for haplogroup A, 41% for haplogroup B and 24% for haplogroup D. Nine haplotypes were found in 17 samples, indicating an unusually high genetic diversity on a single site ancient population. Among them, three haplotypes have not been previously found in America, two are shared in Asia, and one is a private haplotype. Despite geographical barriers that eventually isolated them, an important influence of gene flow from neighboring pre-Columbian communities, mainly Muiscas, could explain the high genetic polymorphism of this community before the Spanish conquest, and argues against Guanes as being a genetic isolate., (2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Aim: To evaluate three-dimensionally, using microcomputed tomography (μCT), the anatomical relationship between the cavity prepared to hold the inlay stone and the pulp chamber in the teeth of the ancient Maya., Methodology: Six well-preserved teeth from Maya corpses found in an archaeological site in Guatemala (approximately 1600 year old) were selected and scanned using a high-resolution μCT system (SkyScan 1174v2; SkyScan N.V., Kontich, Belgium). The sample comprised six maxillary teeth: two canines, one premolar, two central incisors and one lateral incisor. All teeth had one or two inlay stones on the buccal surface of the crown. Each specimen was scanned at an isotropic resolution of 22.5 μm, a rotational step of 0.70°, a rotational angle of 180° and a 3.1-s exposure time, using a 1-mm-thick aluminium filter. Images of each specimen were reconstructed from apex to the crown with dedicated software (NRecon v1.6.1.5) in approximately 450 slices. CTan v1.11 and CTVol v2.1 were used for three-dimensional visualization and qualitative analysis of the external and internal anatomy of the teeth., Results: The tooth modification in all samples was classified as type E1 (one stone on the buccal surface of the crown) or E2 (two stones on the buccal surface of the crown). In the canine teeth, the cavities created to insert the inlay stone did not reach the pulp chamber. Conversely, in the maxillary incisors, the cavities clearly perforated the pulp chamber resulting in massive internal inflammatory resorption or partial calcification of the pulp cavity. In the premolar tooth, a small perforation of the pulp chamber under the buccal cusp, without morphological alteration of the intraradicular dentine, was observed., Conclusions: Microcomputed tomography analysis of teeth of the ancient Maya civilization showed that the inlay cavities cut reached the pulp chamber in the maxillary incisors and premolar teeth, with the potential to cause pulp and periapical disease., (© 2011 International Endodontic Journal.)

Phylogenetic inference based on language is a vital tool for tracing the dynamics of human population expansions. The timescale of agriculture-based expansions around the world provides an informative amount of linguistic change ideal for reconstructing phylogeographies. Here we investigate the expansion of Arawak, one of the most widely dispersed language families in the Americas, scattered from the Antilles to Argentina. It has been suggested that Northwest Amazonia is the Arawak homeland based on the large number of diverse languages in the region. We generate language trees by coding cognates of basic vocabulary words for 60 Arawak languages and dialects to estimate the phylogenetic relationships among Arawak societies, while simultaneously implementing a relaxed random walk model to infer phylogeographic history. Estimates of the Arawak homeland exclude Northwest Amazonia and are bi-modal, with one potential homeland on the Atlantic seaboard and another more likely origin in Western Amazonia. Bayesian phylogeography better supports a Western Amazonian origin, and consequent dispersal to the Caribbean and across the lowlands. Importantly, the Arawak expansion carried with it not only language but also a number of cultural traits that contrast Arawak societies with other lowland cultures.

In this study we analyzed the relationships and patterns of spatial variation from morphological cranial variability of 17 population samples representing the ancient inhabitants of the central territory of Argentina (archaeologically known as "Sierras Centrales") and other pre-Hispanic populations from different ecological and geographic regions of the Southern Cone of South America (Argentina and Uruguay), based on the analysis of 10 craniofacial measurements. Results obtained from D2 distances can be interpreted as evidence of a similar biological history for the populations that inhabited the Sierras Centrales and the population of Santiago del Estero. Matrix correlation analysis demonstrated that craniometric variation is significantly influenced by geography, suggesting that populations that lived at lower geographical distance share more biological similarity. Global spatial autocorrelation analysis suggests a clinal pattern for the biological variation, although Moran's I estimates calculated for each variable demonstrate that only nasal height and breadth show this spatial pattern of variation. Results from spatial regression techniques show a significant effect of altitude modeling nasal shape, in agreement with previous studies suggesting that nasal morphology is strongly influenced by environment variables.

Various explanations have been formulated regarding high levels of craniofacial variation among Native American populations but the contribution of developmental processes to the establishment of these patterns of variation remains unknown. In this study, we compare facial morphology in ontogenetic series of three Native South American populations, one hunter-gatherer group and two farmer groups, in order to test the null hypothesis that indicates that the pattern of facial differentiation between populations does not change during ontogeny. If diet-related factors contribute to outline facial morphology, it is likely to find greater differences between hunter-gatherer and both farmer groups than between two groups of farmers and this differentiation is expected to increase with age, especially in those structures that are influenced by the mechanical load of mastication. According to our results, hunter-gatherers clearly differ from the two groups of farmers. Non-heritable factors linked to diet, such as nutritional content of food, may increase differentiation across ontogeny in some cases. However, as hunter-gatherers were clearly separated from farmer populations during entire postnatal ontogeny, an important proportion of size variation may not necessarily reflect eco-sensitive changes. Consequently, the hypothesis cannot be completely rejected., (Copyright © 2010 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.)

This article analyzes the impact of state policies since the 1970s on household food security in several Mapuche communities in the Araucanía region of Chile (Region IX). The author highlights key transformations in the national economy and food system and endeavors to link those to local phenomena, in particular the absorption of the local livelihood strategies and food systems into capitalist markets and the high incidences of food insecurity. The article concludes that a reconceptualization of macroeconomic and indigenous policies are required to rebuild the material and social foundations of rural Mapuche communities that provide the bases from which their inhabitants can reconstruct a mutually beneficial relationship with the broader Chilean society and avert the continued acceleration of tension and violence.

This symposium takes as its point of departure two books by Massimo Livi Bacci, Conquest and El Dorado in the Marshes, published in English in 2008 and 2010. Livi Bacci assesses widely varying estimates of the demographic dimensions of the collapse of the Native populations following their contact with Europeans and elucidates the proximate causes of that catastrophe. Drawing on models that combine production potential with demography, environment, and technology, Shripad Tuljapurkar discusses analogous historical experiences of the populations of Polynesia and the social transformation they entailed. David S. Reher argues that explanations of the estimated demographic dynamics need to take into account the negative fertility responses of the Indigenous population to the disruption of their traditional way of life. Focusing on the biological aspects of immunity to diseases such as smallpox, Andrew Noymer demonstrates that infectious diseases alone could not account for the Indios' population collapse. The contributions to this symposium are based on presentations at a session at the 2010 annual meeting of the Population Association of America, held in Dallas, Texas, that examined the demographic consequences of the Spanish conquest of the Caribbean region and of South America in light of the two books.

In the national consciousness, Ecuador is a mestizo nation. However, it is also an ethnically diverse nation with sizable minorities of indigenous and Afrodescended peoples. In national surveys, there is also a considerable minority who self-identify as blanco (white). Although there is strong evidence of continuing discrimination and prejudice toward both indigenous and Afro-descended peoples, there is little public discussion or political action addressing such issues. The emergence of a powerful and resilient indigenous movement in the late 1980s gained international interest and acclaim in the 1990s, in part because of the peaceful mobilization efforts and effective bargaining tactics of the movement. However, indigenous leaders usually have not engaged in a discourse of racismo and/or discriminación. There has been much less social movement solidarity and activism among Afro-Ecuadorians, but their leaders commonly employ a discourse of racismo and discriminación. In August and September 2004, a survey of more than eight thousand adult Ecuadorians was conducted in regard to racism and related topics. In this research, we use several measures from this survey that focus on awareness of and sensitivity to issues of racism, prejudice, and discrimination. Self-identification of respondents enables us to contrast the responses of whites, mestizos, Indians, and Afro-Ecuadorians to the measures. Other independent variables of interest are level of education, the region in which the respondent resides, and whether the respondent lives in an urban or rural area. Regression results show differences among the ethnic groups in levels of awareness of racism, but more powerful predictors are level of education and rural residence.

Drawing on the rich but mostly overlooked history of Guatemala's anti-smallpox campaigns in the 1780s and 1790s, this paper interweaves an analysis of the contribution of colonial medical knowledges and practical experiences with the construction and implementation of imperial science. The history of the anti-smallpox campaigns is traced from the introduction of inoculation in Guatemala in 1780 to the eve of the Spanish Crown-sponsored Royal Maritime Vaccination Expedition in 1803. The paper first analyses the development of what Guatemalan medical physician José Flores called his 'local method' of inoculation, tailored to material and cultural conditions of highland Maya communities, and based on his more than twenty years of experience in anti-smallpox campaigns among multiethnic populations in Guatemala. Then the paper probes the accompanying transformations in discourses about health through the anti-smallpox campaigns as they became explicitly linked to new discourses of moral responsibility towards indigenous peoples. With the launch of the Spanish Vaccination Expedition in 1803, anti-smallpox efforts bridged the New World, Europe and Asia, and circulated on a global scale via the enactment of imperial Spanish health policy informed, in no small part, by New World and specifically colonial Guatemalan experiences with inoculation in multiethnic cities and highland Maya towns.

Induced deformation of the cranial vault is one form of permanent alteration of the body that has been performed by human beings from the beginning of history as a way of differentiating from others. These procedures have been observed in different cultures, but were particularly widespread in Mesoamerica. The authors examined and reviewed the historical and anthropological literature of intentional deformation practices in Mayan culture. The Mayans performed different types of cranial deformations and used different techniques and instruments to deform children's heads. The most remarkable morphological alteration is seen in the flattening of the frontal bone. Some archeological investigations link deformation types with specific periods. This article provides a glance at the cultural environment of the Mayans and demonstrates the heterogeneity of this interesting cultural phenomenon, which has changed over time.

Since Bruno Latour's discussion of a Sakhalin island map used by La Pérouse as part of a global network of "immutable mobiles," the commensurability of European and non-European knowledge has become an important issue for historians of science. But recent studies have challenged these dichotomous categories as reductive and inadequate for understanding the fluid nature of identities, their relational origins, and their historically constituted character. Itineraries of knowledge transfer, traced in the wake of objects and individuals, offer a powerful heuristic alternative, bypassing artificial epistemological divides and avoiding the limited scale of national or monolingual frames. Approaches that place undue emphasis either on the omnipotence of the imperial center or the centrality of the colonial periphery see only half the picture. Instead, practices of knowledge collection, codification, elaboration, and dissemination--in European, indigenous, and mixed or hybrid contexts--can be better understood by following their moveable parts, with a keen sensitivity toward non-normative epistemologies and more profound temporal frameworks.

Since his visit to Tierra del Fuego in the 1830s, Darwin had been fascinated by the "savages" that succeeded in surviving on such a "broken beach", and because they were certainly similar in behaviour to our ancestors. However, he was also fascinated by baboons' behaviour, according to Brehm's accounts: hamadryas baboons showed a strong altruism to the point of risking their own lives in order to save their infants from attack by dogs. In 1871, he mentions he would rather have descended from brave baboons than from "savages", considered egoistic. We study the two sources of these ideas and try to show how Darwin's comparative reflections on apes and "savages" made him the first evolutionist anthropologist., (2010. Published by Elsevier SAS.)

This article explores the nexus between indigenous mobilisation, citizenship, and poverty in Argentina. A subnational comparison of land struggles among the Diaguita Calchaqu in Tucumn and the Mbya Guaran in Misiones shows that changing global and national opportunity structures, most prominently a new multicultural citizenship regime, set the stage for indigenous mobilisation. In turn, local transformations of capitalist development motivate indigenous mobilising efforts, whereas leadership patterns and state-movement relations shape the capacity to mobilise. Diaguita and Mbya mobilisation reveals that indigenous movements play a central role in the activation of formal citizenship rights and the contestation of dominant notions of poverty. At the same time, the current design of multicultural citizenship and the adverse socioeconomic incorporation of indigenous communities also counteract indigenous mobilising efforts in Argentina.

In Marcos Zapata's 1753 painting of the Last Supper in Cuzco, Peru, Christian symbolism is filtered through Andean cultural tradition. Zapata was a late member of the Cuzco School of Painting, a group comprised of few European immigrants and handfuls of mestizo and Indian artists. The painters in Cuzco learned mostly from prints of European paintings, and their style tends to blend local culture into the traditional painting of their conquistadors. Imagery was the most successful tool used by the Spaniards in their quest to Christianize the Andean population. By teaching locals to paint Christian subjects, they were able to infuse Christianity into Andean traditions. Zapata's rendering of the Last Supper utilizes this cultural blending while staying true to the Christian symbolism within the subject. Instead of the traditional lamb, Zapata's Last Supper features a platter of cuy, or guinea pig, an Andean delicacy stocked with protein as well as cultural significance. Cuy was traditionally a sacrificial animal at Inca agricultural festivals and in this way it offers poignant parallel to the lamb, as a traditional Christian sacrificial animal.

This article first examines the ways in which coca leaf acquired an important symbolic value in forging a counter-hegemonic discourse that wove together various strands of class and cultural identity struggles in the Chapare province, Bolivia. The second line of enquiry that runs through this article deals with the conflicts that arose when the coca union mutated into a governing political party. Now that the coca growers' leader, Evo Morales, is President of the Republic he is obliged by the international community to reduce the amount of land under coca cultivation. To do this President Morales has had to rhetorically pull coca leaf apart from Andean tradition. This presents a challenge to the integrity of indigenous-peasant based movements in the Chapare because it brings attention to their constructed nature and thus questions the authenticity of the originario identity.

Cooperatives and socially responsible corporations are being hailed as possible correctives to the socioeconomic and ecological exploitation of transnational capitalism. AmazonCoop—a cooperative linking indigenous Brazil nut harvesters and the multinational firm The Body Shop through trade and development projects—capitalized on indigenous symbolism to generate significant material benefits for both parties. At the same time, however, it made indigenous people more vulnerable and dependent, failed to promote participatory development, masked the effects of unfavorable state policies, and perpetuated discriminatory distinctions among indigenous people. Furthermore, the cooperative did not provide an organizational framework to ameliorate the vulnerabilities of indigenous identity politics or transform symbolic capital into enduring political-economic change. This case strongly supports arguments that cooperatives must be rooted in participation, democratic member control, and autonomy if they are to promote “fair globalization” or social transformation rather than institutionalize existing patterns of exploitation.

The present article analyzes the problematic of hygiene in the Luso-Brazilian medicine during the second half of 18th century. The chosen context to analysis is related to the changes of medical thought in Portugal along the period related to the appropriation of medical theories that circulated around the Enlightenment Europe. Besides, this paper approaches the ideas presented in medicine treatises of that time related to body care and health conservation, calling attention to the central role of hygiene along that period.

In recent decades, indigenous populations have become the subjects and agents of development in national and international multicultural policy that acknowledges poverty among indigenous peoples and their historic marginalization from power over development. Although the impact of these legal and programmatic efforts is growing, one persistent axis of disadvantage, male–female difference, is rarely taken into account in ethno-development policy and practice. This article argues that assumptions that inform policy related to indigenous women fail to engage with indigenous women's development concerns. The institutional separation between gender and development policy (GAD) and multiculturalism means that provisions for gender in multicultural policies are inadequate, and ethnic rights in GAD policies are invisible. Drawing on post-colonial feminism, the paper examines ethnicity and gender as interlocking systems that structure indigenous women's development experiences. These arguments are illustrated in relation to the case of the Tsáchila ethno-cultural group in the South American country of Ecuador.

Although processes of cranial modification have been documented throughout the world, the effects on craniofacial landmarks are poorly understood. Such understanding is needed to assist the further understanding of craniofacial morphology and dysmorphology and in the interpretation of craniometric studies assessing issues of biological distance. Samples of both clinically normal and modified crania recovered from the same archeological site in Peru were studied using a three-dimensional approach to evaluate differences in landmark location. The crania were associated with the Ancón site from the central coast, corresponding to the Late Intermediate period (ad 900-1300). Analysis revealed that vault modification had no significant effect on the locations of landmarks of the facial and basal regions. As expected, differences were found on some landmarks of the cranial vault.

Blowing smoke was a sacred habit among the American Indian people in Brazil at the arrival of the first Europeans. That remains a practice of prevention and recovery among the remote people of Amazon and Rio Negro. Addiction to smoking was propagated by Nicot in Europe for the pleasure it procures but it became such real plague of the modern society that every country has to struggle against its given attractive image of a way of life.

One of the most erroneous and repeated assertion in the history of pharmacology for anaesthetists is to say that "the curare was introduced in Europe by Sir Walter Raleigh under the name of ourari". On the contrary, the names to be reminded are: Lawrence Keymis for the first citation of the word ourari, José Gumilla for the word curare and the description of its effects, Charles-Marie de La Condamine for the import of the first known samples. The mistake was initiated by Alexander von Humboldt and developed by the physiologist Münter, a student of Johannes Müller, quoted by Claude Bernard. The repetition of this error was facilitated by the world diffusion of Claude Bernard's work.

The botanical identification of Ulluchu, an iconic fruit frequently depicted in the art of the pre-Columbian Moche culture that flourished from A.D. 100-800 on the Peruvian north coast, has eluded scientists since its documentation in ceramics in the 1930s. Moche fine-line drawings of Ulluchu normally depict seed-pods or seeds floating in the air in sacrificial scenes, associated with runners and messengers or intoxicated priests. It is a grooved, comma-shaped fruit with an enlarged calyx found mainly in fine-line scenes painted on Moche ceramics. The term first appeared without linguistic explanation in the work of pioneer Moche scholar Rafael Larco Hoyle, and the identification of the plant was seen as the largest remaining challenge in current archaebotany at the Peruvian North coast. The name Ulluchu seems to have been coined by Larco. According to his description, the name originated in the Virú River valley, and is supposedly of Mochica origin. However, there is no linguistic evidence that such a term indeed existed in the Mochica or Yunga language.We conclude that Ulluchu can be identified as a group of species of the genus Guarea (Meliaceae) based on morphological characteristics. In addition, the chemical composition of the plant's compounds supports the thesis that it was used in a sacrificial context to improve the extraction of blood from sacrificial victims. We also suggest that a ground preparation of Guarea seeds, when inhaled, may have been used as a hallucinogen. However, more detailed phytochemical research is needed to corroborate the latter hypothesis.

This paper attempts to provide a general overview about the way in which Brazilian medicine and physical anthropology gave a naturalistic approach to the idea of race and to the "problem" posed by the mixture of races in the country during the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, coinciding with the introduction of evolutionism in Brazil.

Major manifestations of vertebral degenerative joint disease were observed on a Pre-Columbian Muisca series from the Soacha Cemetery (11th to 13th centuries) Colombia, South America. In total, 1,646 vertebrae of 83 individuals were examined. Osteophytes, vertebral body joint surface contour change ("lipping"), and vertebral body pitting were evaluated for each vertebral body. For apophyseal joints, joint surface contour change, pitting, and eburnation were recorded. Two methods of frequency calculation and five for vertebral degenerative disease diagnosis were applied and compared, allowing discussion of methodological considerations. Our study showed that 83% of individuals and 32% of vertebrae were classified as positive when diagnosed by the presence of at least one of the following manifestations: osteophytes, vertebral body joint surface contour change ("lipping"), apophyseal joint surface contour change, or eburnation (method called "Pitting excluded"). No significant differences were found between the sexes. In the youngest cohort (15-30 years), 65% of individuals and 10% of vertebrae exhibit at least one of the previously mentioned manifestations. High prevalences suggest a high level of physical activity beginning in childhood which may have accelerated the aging process in this Pre-Columbian population. Historical data are compatible with this hypothesis., ((c) 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.)

Rescue excavations at the site of Nawinpukio in Perú's Ayacucho Valley exposed a cache of fragmented skulls dating to the Huarpa-era, about AD 400-700. Physical analysis of these remains revealed that they belonged to individuals of both sexes and a range of ages (MNI = 8), and that four crania had been modified through drilling, cutting, and scraping. The occipital and parietal bones of one cranium had been modified to form a shallow basin. Carbon stable isotope analysis of these remains revealed that five individuals had isotopic signatures consistent with maize consumption and one individual exhibited a carbon isotope value indicative of a C(3) plant based diet. Such a nonmaize diet distinguishes this individual from all other prehistoric humans analyzed from the Ayacucho Valley and is consistent with an origin a different ecozone of the valley. On the basis of their physical properties it is argued that these remains represent trophies obtained during raiding. Drawing on the formal properties of the specimens as well as ethnographic and archaeological analogies, it is suggested that the cranial basin served as a vessel for liquid., ((c) 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.)

Crown dimensions and occlusal surface wear rate and wear plane were evaluated using paired first and second mandibular molars from a sample of 84 Early Agricultural period (1600 B.C.-A.D. 200) skeletons from northwest Mexico. Although this period represents a major shift in subsistence strategies in the Sonoran Desert, from food-foraging to agriculture, archaeological and dental pathology studies have identified this period as one of relative dietary stability. It was therefore predicted that very little variation in occlusal wear would have occurred between the early phase (San Pedro: 1600-800 B.C.) and late phase (Cienega: 800 B.C.-A.D. 200). Comparison of crown diameters identified some phenotypic differences between sexes but not between archaeological phases. Molar occlusal surfaces were then divided into four quadrants, and wear scores recorded for each quadrant. Principle axis analysis was performed between total wear scores of paired, adjacent first and second mandibular molars to assess rate and occlusal wear plane over time. The analysis demonstrated that both wear rate and wear plane increased from the early to the late phase of the Early Agricultural period. These results indicate that although diet may have indeed remained stable during this period in the Sonoran Desert increases in the rate of wear and wear plane may reflect changes in food-processing techniques. It is suggested that more intensive processing of agricultural products during the Cienega phase simultaneously softened the diet to create more tooth-contact wear and introduced more grit to cause faster and more angled wear on the molar occlusal surfaces., ((c) 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.)

The article constructs a historically contextualized description of the people who live along the Negro river, a Brazilian affluent in the Amazon basin. Drawing on information about the daily social experience of the participants from the dawn of the twentieth century through the mid-1990s, the processes by which the population and communities took shape are identified. On the Negro river, contact between Brazilian society and the autochthonous, catechized indigenous groups living there was determinant in shaping the territory's caboclo identity. Starting in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, this nomenclature took root and entered the popular lexicon. Extractivist activities played a major role in spreading the term, within a context where the predominant social relations derived from the 'cultura do barracão'.

Four recently discovered frozen child mummies from two of the highest peaks in the south central Andes now yield tantalizing evidence of the preparatory stages leading to Inca ritual killing as represented by the unique capacocha rite. Our interdisciplinary study examined hair from the mummies to obtain detailed genetic and diachronic isotopic information. This approach has allowed us to reconstruct aspects of individual identity and diet, make inferences concerning social background, and gain insight on the hitherto unknown processes by which victims were selected, elevated in social status, prepared for a high-altitude pilgrimage, and killed. Such direct information amplifies, yet also partly contrasts with, Spanish historical accounts.

This study aims to integrate the craniofacial morphological variation of southern South American populations with the results of mtDNA haplogroup variation, to discuss the South America peopling. Because the causes of morphological differentiation of Fueguian populations are still a controversial subject, the comparison with neutral variation could contribute to elucidate them. Samples of human remains from South America regions were used to analyze the evolutionary relationships. Several craniofacial traits observed in frontal and lateral view were analyzed by means of geometric morphometrics techniques, and the evolutionary relationships based on morphological and molecular data were established in base to ordination analyses. The results from the facial skeleton agree with those obtained from mtDNA haplogroup frequencies, with La Pampa/Chaco samples detached from the Patagonian samples. Hence, the same mechanism that accounts for the pattern of frequency of haplogroups could explain the variation found in facial skeleton among the samples. It is suggested that such geographic pattern of craniofacial and molecular diversity may reflect the effect of genetic drift that occurred in the small founding populations isolated by distance or geographic barriers. Conversely, the results obtained using the traits from the lateral view slightly differ from the molecular results, showing differences between southernmost Patagonian and the other samples. Therefore, mechanisms other than genetic drift (e.g., natural selection) could have acted to shape the pattern observed in some craniofacial structures present in the lateral view, characterized by the fact that the southernmost Patagonian samples display the most robust and dolichocephalic crania., ((c) 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.)

Human skeletal remains of the first Americans are scarce, especially in North America. In South America the situation is less dramatic. Two important archaeological regions have generated important collections that allow the analysis of the cranial morphological variation of the Early Americans: Lagoa Santa, Brazil, and Sabana de Bogotá, Colombia. Human crania from the former region have been studied by one of us (WAN) and collaborators, showing that the cranial morphology of the first South Americans was very different from that prevailing today in East Asia and among Native Americans. These results have allowed for proposing that the New World may have been colonized by two different biological populations in the final Pleistocene/early Holocene. In this study, 74 human skulls dated between 11.0 and 3.0 kyr, recovered in seven different sites of Sabana de Bogotá, Colombia, were compared with the world cranial variation by different multivariate techniques: Principal Components Analysis, Multidimensional Scaling, and Cluster of Mahalanobis distance matrices. The Colombian skeletal remains were divided in two chronological subgroups: Paleocolombians (11.0-6.0 kyr) and Archaic Colombians (5.0-3.0 kyr). Both quantitative techniques generated convergent results: the Paleocolombians show remarkable similarities with Lagoa Santa and with modern Australo-Melanesians. Archaic Colombians exhibited the same morphological patterns and associations. These findings support our long-held proposition that the early American settlement may have involved two very distinct biological populations coming from Asia. On the other hand, they suggest the possibility of late survivals of the Paleoamerican pattern not restricted to isolated or marginal areas, as previously thought., ((c) 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.)

In this study we test several hypotheses about the peopling of the central territory of Argentina, archaeologically known as Sierras Centrales, by testing the association between four alternative models of the peopling of the area and cranial morphological variation through distance and matrix correlation analyses. Our results show that the ancient inhabitants of Sierras Centrales demonstrated close morphological similarities with the Patagonian and Tierra del Fuego populations. Moreover, the correlation and partial correlation analyses suggest that the peopling of the Sierras Centrales most likely took place as a migratory wave proceeding from the present area of Northeastern Argentina, and continued southward to Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego., ((c) 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.)

This study evaluates the role of plant foods in the subsistence of hunter-gatherers that inhabited the Central East, Northwest, and Northeast Patagonia (Argentina) during the late Holocene (ca. 3,000-500 years BP). The goal of the present study is to assess the temporal variation of dental caries ratio and wear rate in skeletal samples to ascertain if the biological information supports the dietary shift toward greater consumption of wild plant foods around 1,500 years BP, suggested by other types of evidence. The authors registered caries, antemortem and postmortem tooth loss, and tooth wear from eight samples belonging to hunter-gatherers from Patagonia for which chronological sequences from early late Holocene (ca. 3,000-1,500 years BP) up to final late Holocene (ca. 1,500-500 years BP) are available. The results indicate that caries percentages in Patagonian samples fall within the range established for hunter-gatherers but there are significant geographical differences. In addition, caries ratio does not change significantly through time, so the amount of carbohydrates consumed seems to have remained fairly constant since 3,000 years BP. In contrast, there is a marked temporal trend toward the reduction of wear rates in the three areas, suggesting a faster rate in early late Holocene than in final late Holocene. These results would reflect a change to less hard and/or abrasive diets in the final late Holocene, probably owing to differences in food processing methods employed., ((c) 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.)

Introduction: Several South-American native societies snuff psychoactive seeds in magic-religious rituals since ancient times., Objectives: To describe archeological, historical and ethnographical evidences regarding the ritual use of vilca or yopo (Anadenanthera sp)., Development: Anadenanthera seeds were used in South America 3,000 years ago. Archeological studies found vilca seeds in funerary tombs from 1,000 BC in the north of Chile and Argentina; ceramics and snuff tubes were found in San Pedro de Atacama archeological sites from the same data, and in Tiwanaku ceremonial center in Bolivian Altiplano. Today, Anadenanthera sp is used by several native groups in Orinoco basin, where is known as yopo, and in the Brazilian and Colombian Amazon. Hallucinogenic effect is due to the presence of methyl-tryptamine derivatives. Most snuff is prepared from the roasted and powdered seeds, vegetable ash and/or lime obtained from shells., Conclusions: Archeological and ethnographical data suggest that vilca was used and is still used by native shamans as a sacred seed in South America, due to its hallucinogenic effects.

The phenotypic variance (V(P)) may be divided into the genetic variance (V(G)), the general environmental variance (V(Eg)), and the special environmental variance (V(Es)). The latter is estimated through repeatability calculation (b). This value is considered the upper limit of heritability and represents maximum genetic variance proportion (V(Gm) = V(G) + V(Eg)) in relation to V(P) (b = (V(G) + V(Eg))/V(P)). This process allows an improved determination of biological relationships among groups from estimators maximizing the genetic information of quantitative characters. Two hundred and thirty-seven individuals inhabiting the northern coast of Chile for 4,000 years were taken as a sample. Measurement was made of six metric characters at both sides of the cranium. Special environmental values (es) were obtained by regression. The difference between these values and the phenotypic values (p) consists in the genetic values plus the general environmental values (g + eg). A mean b value of 0.83 indicated that V(Es) represents 17% of V(P). The results showed: 1) high stability of the maximum genetic variance in time and space, 2) high correlation between the biological relationships model, the phenotypic model, and the maximum genetic model, and 3) random distribution of the nongenetic variation, as expected from the quantitative genetics theory. These results support the use of phenotypic data for the interpretation of the evolution history of prehistoric populations., ((c) 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc)