Osteochondritis dissecans and physical activity in skeletal remains of ancient hunter-gatherers from Southern Patagonia

Abstract

Osteochondritis dissecans (OCD) is a joint disease characterized by the detachment orseparation of an articular cartilage fragment and subchondral bone in joint epiphyses.It has been diagnosed in archaeological skeletons worldwide but scarcely studied inhunter-gatherer skeletal remains. The aim of this paper is to analyse the variation ofOCD in skeletons of past populations that lived in Southern Patagonia during theLate Holocene, which can be useful to improve our understanding about the effectsof the mechanical demands in hunter-gatherers. The overall prevalence observed inthis sample (40.5%), higher than the data reported for current populations and mostlylocated in the shoulder of young and middle adult males of terrestrial and maritimehunter-gatherers, suggests that physical activity involved in both economic strategieswould have played an important role in the development of OCD. The contact withEuropean colonizers does not seem to have produced differences in the prevalenceof OCD, although more dated skeletons are needed to test this hypothesis.