Changes and continuities in human mobility at the end of the late holocene: entheseal changes, degenerative joint disease and stable isotopes in southern Mendoza

Variability in human mobility is one of the most important topics in the study of past societies. In southern Mendoza province, researches deal with this issue in the context of large scale process, such as introduction of food production and intensification in the exploitation of resources (ca. 200...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: Peralta, Eva Ailén
Formato: Artículo revista
Lenguaje:Español
Publicado: Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades. Museo de Antropología 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://revistas.unc.edu.ar/index.php/antropologia/article/view/16797
Aporte de:
Descripción
Sumario:Variability in human mobility is one of the most important topics in the study of past societies. In southern Mendoza province, researches deal with this issue in the context of large scale process, such as introduction of food production and intensification in the exploitation of resources (ca. 2000 yr BP). Although mobility can be understood through stable oxygen isotopes (?18O) we could employ other high resolution proxies, observed at an individual level, to strengthen the evidence. The aim of this work is to articulate isotopic data with degenerative joint diseases and entheseal changes to discuss human strategies about subsistence and mobility that were implemented at the end of Late Holocene. For this purpose, osteological samples of ten archaeological sites from middle Atuel valley (n=25), a place where was discussed the limit of agriculture and intensification process, were studied. We compare isolated versus multiple burials with chronologies after 2000 years BP. Activity patterns point out that high mobility is maintained even after incorporation of cultigens. Considering an ideal dichotomous model (mobile huntergatherers vs sedentary farmers) these tendencies could be understood as a result of a combination of productive and extractive strategies.