Infants from the Tarapacá 40 cemetery (Northern Chile, Formative Period, 1000 BC–AD 600)

Abstract

This study explores the age at death structure, skeletal lesions, and artificial cranial modification (ACM) on 35 nonadults until their 38 months of life recovered from the Tarapacá 40 cemetery, Northern Chile. Age estimations were based primarily on long bones dimensions, whereas skeletal lesions and ACM were recognized on dry bones and in mummified and bundled bodies. Measurements and observations in these later were performed by radiographies. Results show a distribution of ages at death clustered in three groups: around birth and second month of life, between 9 and 12 months of life, and between 18 and 26 months of life. The presence of physiological disruption indicators such as porotic hyperostosis, cribra orbitalia, criba femoris, periostitis and Harris lines, and ACM is described. Then, we discussed the observed age at death structure and the skeletal lesions as reflecting weaning process, and the links between the nature and timing of this practice with social organization of care labour, control over female sexuality, and socio‐economic transformations occurring during the Formative Period in Northern Chile.

About the Recent Chilean Immigration Phenomenon: A Scoping Review on Radiographic Methods for Dental Age Estimation in Children

“…Population specific standards are few for Latin Americans (Fonseca et al, 2015;Iscan & Olivera, 2000), and more specifically in Chile in the field of age estimation, what little has been done has been focused on the study of historical or sub-actual populations or in archaeological contexts (Ericksen, 1997;Herrera & Retamal, 2017;González-Ramírez et al, 2019). The situation of dental age estimation is not different, for which methodologies have been applied out of context or with small sample sizes (Cadenas et al, 2014;Fonseca et al, 2015).…”

Physical Violence and Social Tension in the Atacama Desert: Osteobiography of a Woman from the Tarapacá 40 Formative Period Cemetery

“…However, the absence of macroscopic signs in the bone does not necessarily imply good health or the absence of disease (Wood et al 1992). Studies on mummies from Tr-40 showed a high prevalence of respiratory disease, such as pneumonia and tuberculosis (Allison et al 1981; Fontana et al 1983), and high infant mortality (González-Ramírez et al 2019). Chagas disease, blastomycosis, salmonella, and parasitic infections were also documented (Allison et al 1979; Fontana et al 1983; Ramirez et al 2021; Rothhammer et al 1984).…”

Patologías congénitas y defectos del desarrollo en poblaciones arqueológicas en la costa desértica de Antofagasta: reflexiones sobre su origen a partir de casos de estudio

“…De esta forma, podemos suponer que, a diferencia de lo indicado por Barnes (1994), no corresponderían a parias sociales dentro de su grupo. Por el contrario, tal como se ha planteado anteriormente para las poblaciones de la costa del norte de Chile (Silva-Pinto et al, 2013; Araneda y Andrade 2020), los individuos que poseían estas enfermedades habrían sido sujetos de cuidado, no quedando expuestos a circunstancias ligadas a infanticidio, como se ha propuesto para grupos formativos del interior del norte de Chile (González-Ramírez et al, 2019).…”