Leandro Luna

Chacarita Project: Conformation and analysis of a modern and documented human osteological collection from Buenos Aires City – Theoretical, methodological and ethical aspects

Osteological reference collections play a key role in bioanthropological research; they allow the development and testing of methods for sexing and ageing individuals using various bone and dental attributes. This paper presents the first stage results of the ongoing Chacarita Research Project, which aims to generate and study a reference collection of adult skeletons representative of the contemporary population of Buenos Aires city. The Chacarita Collection consists of unclaimed human remains of individuals of known nationality, sex, age, cause and date of death from the Chacarita Public Cemetery. Unlike other similar endeavours, this sample has been completely exhumed using archaeological techniques. So far, a total of 146 adult skeletons have been recovered (60 females - 41.1% and 86 males - 58.90%), the majority of which have ages-at-death in the range of 71-90 years. They were born primarily in Argentina (n=133; 91.1%), although other nationalities are also represented. Dates of death range between 1987 and 2000. In the short term, the osteological study of this collection will allow assessment of the performance of classical methods of sex determination and age-at-death estimation in a local setting. A special priority will be given to the study of osteological changes in individuals over 50 years. As the sample is being retrieved by exhumation, the impact of taphonomic agents on the most diagnostic bone structures is also being assessed. In the long term, this osteological collection will be available to generate new population-specific techniques and to develop comparative biological studies.

Mortuary Behaviour in Subadults: Children as Social Actors in the Hunter- Gatherer Societies of Argentine Pampas

Abstract Children are scarcely represented in the prehistoric burial sites of highly mobile hunter-gatherers. Despite this situation, their visibility and presence in the archaeological record is highly significant for the understanding of patterns of residence, life ways, social hierarchies and mortality profiles. This issue is particularly important when considering their representation in cemeteries and associated mortuary behaviours. The Chenque I site is a prehispanic cemetery from Western Pampas in Argentina, where subadults are highly represented. In this paper, several archaeological topics are discussed from different analytical perspectives, including social hierarchies, mortality patterns and the social role of children in these groups. The representations of childhood in multiple burials, in which the cause of death was clearly related to interpersonal violence, are also analysed. Despite their biologically immaturity, it would appear to be the case that pubertal juveniles played active and important social roles in war and conflict during the Final Late Holocene in the Centre of Argentina.

Middle and late holocene micromammal pathologies from Cueva Tixi (Tandilia Range, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina)

Paleopathology in bones of very small mammals has rarely been studied. Different types of osseous lesions of mammals weighing under 0.2kg, recovered from the Holocene strata of Cueva Tixi archaeological and paleontological site (Tandilia range, province of Buenos Aires, Argentina), are described and discussed in this report. Several types of trauma, entheseal changes, degenerative joint diseases, and probable osteomyelitis were identified. The lesions were chronic, indicating that the animals were able to survive a period of convalescence, although in many cases the decreased capacity for locomotion likely was significant. These pathological findings open research avenues for very small mammals that usually are not considered in archaeological disease studies.

Conservación e investigación en el área de Antropología Biológica del Museo Etnográfico J. B. Ambrosetti (Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina)

Se detalla parte de las actividades realizadas durante el ano 2012 en el marco de un proyecto de conservacion en el Area de Antropologia Biologica del Museo Etnografico J. B. Ambrosetti, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina. Este Plan Integral de Manejo de Colecciones Osteologicas se propone desarrollar un protocolo basado en el tratamiento etico de los restos humanos, destacandose los conceptos de custodia, identidad y respeto, que cubre aspectos articulados en cuatro ejes principales: etica, educacion/investigacion, conservacion y patrimonio. Dentro de ese marco, se discuten los procedimientos especificos implementados tendientes a la salvaguarda y minimizacion del deterioro de un conjunto de restos humanos afectados por agentes medioambientales. Se enfatiza en la interaccion entre especialistas de diferentes disciplinas para desarrollar tareas de conservacion desde una perspectiva integradora. Esta forma de abordar las colecciones establece nuevas estrategias que contemplan la necesidad de desarrollar tareas de conservacion y analizar la informacion cientifica en un marco que priorice los aspectos bioeticos de las politicas de manejo patrimonial. Los resultados son prometedores para la caracterizacion de las colecciones, lo cual incluye la identificacion, documentacion, conservacion y guarda de restos humanos prehistoricos procedentes de diferentes regiones del mundo. La aplicacion de esta propuesta surge desde la bioantropologia para abordar las investigaciones de restos humanos desde una perspectiva integral. Se pretende contribuir a generar conciencia entre los investigadores de restos humanos sobre la importancia de su participacion en la generacion de protocolos de conservacion.

Factores de preservación diferencial de restos óseos humanos contemporáneos de la “colección Chacarita” (Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina)/ Factors of differential preservation of modern human bone remains from the “Chacarita collection” (Buenos Aires city, Argentina)

espanolEn anos recientes, se han iniciado investigaciones tendientes a abordar, a escala regional, el estudio de los modos de vida desarrollados por las poblaciones humanas que habitaron la region serrana y las llanuras de la provincia de Cordoba en el Holoceno tardio desde una perspectiva bioarqueologica, es decir, considerando las condiciones de salud y enfermedad, cambios o continuidades en la dieta que podrian vincularse con el desarrollo de diversas estrategias adaptativas, asi como las relaciones biologicas establecidas con otros grupos humanos, entre otros temas. En este marco, los objetivos del presente trabajo se orientan a: a) abordar estos temas a partir del analisis de bioindicadores dentales -caries y calculos-, lesiones degenerativas articulares -osteofitosis- y nodulos de Schmorl, que nos permitan realizar inferencias acerca de la dieta y condiciones de salud, asi como niveles de actividad fisica, respectivamente y b) integrar y discutir estos resultados con la informacion arqueologica, bioantropologica, isotopica y cronologica disponible para la region. Se trabajo con 97 individuos (34 femeninos y 63 masculinos) procedentes de 52 sitios arqueologicos. Se cuenta con 36 fechados radiocarbonicos con un rango de antiguedad de entre 2707 ± 61 y 383 ± 58 anos AP., asi como informacion arqueologica que permite adscribir la muestra al Holoceno tardio. Los resultados sugieren una compleja dinamica poblacional, asi como cambios en el tipo de actividades realizadas y un leve desmejoramiento en las condiciones de salud y nutricion a finales del Holoceno tardio. EnglishIn the last years, regional research has been done on the study of the lifestyle developed by human populations inhabiting the mountains and the eastern plains of the province of Cordoba in the late Holocene from a bioarchaeological perspective. That is, the conditions of health and illness, changes or continuities in th diet that could be linked to the development of different adaptive strategies, as well as biological relationships established with other populations have been considered. In this context, the objectives of this work are a) to address these issues from the analysis of dental biomarkers -caries and calculus-, degenerative articular lesions -osteophytosis-, and Schmorl nodes, allowing us to make inferences about diet and health conditions as well as physical activity levels, respectively; and b) to integrate and discuss these results with the archaeological, bioanthropological, isotopic and chronological evidence available for the region. The sample included 97 individuals (34 females and 63 males) from 52 archaeological sites, 36 of which were dated by AMS, presenting a range of age between 2707 ± 61 and 383 ± 58 years BP. The results suggest a complex population dynamics, as well as changes in the type of the activities performed and a slight deterioration in the health conditions and nutrition at the end of the late Holocene.El analisis del tartaro dental desde una perspectiva arqueobotanica, constituye un acercamiento innovador en el estudio de la alimentacion humana, la manipulacion de fibras vegetales con los dientes y el uso de plantas con fines medicinales. Esto se debe a que la identificacion de microfosiles de interes arqueologico que quedaron entrampados en el sarro nos permite conocer que plantas fueron consumidas o manipuladas con los dientes. En este trabajo se analizan los microfosiles extraidos del tartaro dental de individuos del sitio Chenque I y se evalua la tecnica apropiada para recuperar y observar la mayor cantidad y tipo de microparticulas. Las principales morfologias de fitolitos registradas corresponden al tejido epidermico de especies de Poaceae. Es notable la presencia de restos de tejidos epidermicos de frutos de (sp.) Prosopis y gramineas presentes en los molares. El tejido entrampado en el sarro, resulta un dato de interes al momento de analizar las practicas alimenticias y de salud bucal de los cazadores recolectores pampeanos.RESUMEN Numerosos agentes intrinsecos y extrinsecos afectan de diferentes formas los grados de preservacion de restos oseos humanos. La observacion de la forma e intensidad en las que tales factores inciden en las caracteristicas del registro osteologico de una muestra contemporanea con informacion fehaciente de referencia (sexo, edad, fecha y causa de muerte), ofrece la posibilidad de aportar datos locales para contribuir a la comprension de la compleja dinamica del proceso de descomposicion cadaverica y preservacion del esqueleto. En este trabajo se analizan y comparan estadisticamente variables contextuales (anegabilidad y saturacion del terreno, alcalinidad y presencia de adipocira, de raices de arboles y de envoltorio) y tafonomicas (porcentaje de completitud, indice de fragmentacion y deterioro oseo) en 20 coxales humanos con objeto de analizar, desde una perspectiva osteologica, de que forma la variacion en el impacto de esos factores afecta los grados de preservacion de los esqueletos. Se identifican tendencias que sugieren la accion de algunos agentes especificos, al mismo tiempo que la ausencia de asociacion de numerosas variables aporta informacion relevante para contrastar con modelos previamente generados. Se describen algunas asociaciones estadisticas entre variables que afectan a los individuos femeninos y otras que indican una tendencia hacia la preservacion osea por parte de la accion de las raices, en oposicion a lo habitualmente planteado en las investigaciones tafonomicas; por ultimo, se enfatiza la necesidad de considerar variables poco exploradas desde una perspectiva bioarqueologica, como la saturacion del terreno, la presencia de algun tipo de envoltorio y la accion de la adipocira, como aspectos que afectan significativamente la preservacion osea y por lo tanto, el potencial del registro analizado para ofrecer informacion de interes osteologico. xa0ABSTRACT Numerous intrinsic and extrinsic agents affect the degree of human bone preservation. The analysis of the influence of their action and intensity in the characteristics of an osteological reference sample (with reliable information on sex, age, date and cause of death in each skeleton) provides local data to understand the complex dynamics of cadaveric decomposition and skeletal preservation. This paper discusses the action of several contextual (land floodability and humidity saturation, alkalinity, presence of adipocere, roots and corpse wrapping) and taphonomic variables (bone damage, completeness and fragmentation) in 20 coxal bones in order to examine how they affect general bone preservation of the skeletons. The identified trends suggest the action of some specific agents, while the lack of association of many variables also provides interesting information to be compared with previous models. Specifically, statistical associations between variables that affect female individuals and others that indicate a protective action of roots on bone preservation (as opposed to what is usually stated in taphonomic research) are described. Finally, the need to consider some variables poorly analyzed in previous papers, such as the waterlogged terrain, the presence of some kind of wrapping and the action of adipocere, is stressed as an aspect that significantly improves knowledge about bone preservation. nPublicado on-line: 03/08/2012