Possibilities and Limitations of Human Bone Record in Southern Patagonia

Abstract

According to the peopling model proposed by Borrero, the exploration, colonization and effective occupation of Fuego-Patagonia was a slow and complex process, which resulted in ecological and cultural changes for the first human populations in the southernmost extreme of America. In the same way, the human peopling of these new ecosystems could have implied a potential source of diseases and adaptation of health patterns. This presentation focuses on our first steps in the exploration of the possible impact of Fuego-Patagonia peopling in human health. We study the resolution of bioarcaheological record (human remains corresponding to 562 individuals) to analyse this process, taking into account the taphonomic information related to spatial and temporal conetxts, and the paleopathological results from the recent recovered skeleton in La Arcillosa 2 site in Tierra del Fuego (5200 years BP), one of the earliest complete and articulated in this region. These results include the analyses of long bone cross-sectional geometry for teh intrepretation of lifestyle and nutritional patterns in South America.