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Quebrada de Humahuaca (Jujuy, Argentina) has been extensively studied by archaeologists. Studies have been focused mainly on the Late Regional Development Period (1250-1430 AD), which has been defined as a time of social conflict. In this paper we present bioarchaeological evidence of interpersonal violence related trauma found in populations of th...
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The interpretation of conflict in past societies is an ambiguous process that can either underestimate or overestimate the levels of violence. The aim of this paper is to present the methodology applied to the study of interpersonal violence patterns in hunter-gatherers groups from Northeastern Patagonia during the late Holocene (4000-350 years BP)...
Projectile injury caused by an arrow shot is a common skeletal marker of interpersonal violence in archaeological populations. The injuries of the spine were usually fatal. Only few reports on healing of the vertebra pierced by flint arrowpoint can be found in bioarchaeological literature. This paper presents an exceptional case of a healed trapped...
The political instability that characterizes the early Late Intermediate Period (ca. AD 1000–1250) in Andean prehistory had widespread impacts on how people lived, ranging from changes in settlement patterns to an increase in skeletal trauma and infectious disease. This chapter explores the social experiences of violence and its implications for he...
This paper examines bioarchaeological evidence in order to study conflict among populations from Quebrada de Humahuaca and Valle Calchaquí ca. AD 1000-1432. Interpersonal violence is discussed in relation to current approaches that posit Andean societies as undergoing situations of actual violence, state insecurity, and ritual violence (tinkus). Pr...
Citations
... A similar situation was discovered for the Late Intermediate period, where there were 16 skulls with intentional perforations in Humahuaca, as part of a group of individuals that showed multiple evidence of interpersonal violence. This has been interpreted as a sign of local political conflicts, where rituals served to deter physical violence (Gheggi and Seldes 2012;Seldes and Botta 2014). In the case of northern Chile, there are few documented cases of severed head burials, but none of them with evidence of postmortem intervention. ...
... In contrast, at Iglesia Colorada, the skulls were buried among the domestic refuse, without the same careful treatment. The case of Estación Medanitos XI suggests a scenario of local rituals that started before the Late Horizon and continued during Inca times, possibly as a dedicatory offering (De Stéfano et al. 2021), as a ritual mediation of internecine social conflicts (Gheggi and Seldes 2012;Seldes and Botta 2014), or as the appropriation of local wakas by populations mobilized by the Incas (Orgaz and Ratto 2015). In comparison, the Iglesia Colorada case suggests a public performance of ideological violence to avoid eventual social unrest, one that was either executed by the Inca administrators or sanctioned by them (Garrido and Morales 2019). ...
The appropriation of local ritual practices and their expansion as part of the Inca imperial ideology is a well-documented mode of dominance in the Central Andes. However, there is still no relevant evidence on how it worked in the southern areas of the empire. We show how the Incas might have appropriated some local ritual practices that consisted of burying caches of skulls with perforations, possibly associated with ancestor veneration cults. However, the meanings associated with this practice seem to have changed during the Inca expansion to Chile, serving as a device for coercion over local populations in the Copiapó valley.
... Los estudios clínicos sobre esta temática muestran que las CF son frecuentes y con una alta prevalencia en poblaciones actuales, en particular en grupos de riesgo, como infantes, adultos mayores, individuos con diabetes, entre otros, e incluso se asocia este tipo de complicaciones con un mayor riesgo de mortalidad (Mills y Simpson, 2012). poblaciones de la región del noroeste argentino (e.g., Gheggi, 2014;Seldes y Botta, 2014), Sierras Centrales (Fabra et al., 2015), Pampa (Berón, 2014), transición pampeano-patagónica oriental (e.g., Flensborg, 2011) y norte de Patagonia (Barrientos y Gordón, 2004;Gordón, 2015). Por el contrario, en Patagonia austral (PA), las investigaciones se han centrado en descripciones de lesiones traumáticas en estudios de caso o intrasitio (e.g., L'Heureux y Amorosi, 2009;Suby et al. 2009;Suby y Guichón, 2010), con excepciones, como pueden ser los realizados en grandes muestras, por ejemplo, el publicado recientemente por Flensborg y Suby (2020). ...
Los traumas óseos son hallados con frecuencia en restos óseos humanos. Las investigaciones sobre lesiones traumáticas han puesto un mayor énfasis en la evaluación de su relación con aspectos sociales. Sin embargo, son menos frecuentes aquellos estudios sobre las complicaciones patológicas causadas por traumas, específicamente por fracturas. Los tipos de complicaciones pueden ser: procesos infecciosos asociados, uniones de fracturas defectuosas o mal alineadas, presencia de pseudoarticulación, y miositis osificante traumática. El objetivo de este trabajo es presentar y discutir las interpretaciones posibles de complicaciones asociadas a traumas óseos, surgidas al analizar las muestras esqueletales de Patagonia Austral del Holoceno medio y tardío (n=147). Se evaluó la presencia, característica y ubicación anatómica de traumas y fracturas óseas, y se determinó la presencia de complicaciones y sus posibles consecuencias. Los resultados indican que 22 individuos presentaron traumas (14,9%), de los cuales seis esqueletos (27,3%; 6/22) muestran evidencias de posibles complicaciones de fracturas óseas. Se evidenciaron individuos con fracturas mal alineadas, deformación articular, pseudoarticulación e infecciones asociadas, cada una de ellas involucradas con posibles consecuencias y limitaciones en la capacidad de movimiento.
... Estos restos humanos fueron recuperados por Debenedetti durante las campañas organizadas por la Facultad de Filosofía y Letras de la Universidad de Buenos Aires en 1920 y 1921. En ambos casos se trata de cráneos sin esqueleto postcraneal (Nielsen 2014;Seldes y Botta 2014). La dentición permanente de cada uno de los cráneos fue analizada a partir de observaciones macroscópicas a los efectos de preservar su integridad. ...
En este trabajo se realiza un análisis comparativo del estado de salud bucal de muestras correspondientes a poblaciones cazadoras-recolectoras de la costa norte de la Patagonia argentina (N=38) y agropastoriles de la Quebrada de Humahuaca, provincia de Jujuy (N=40). Se relevaron caries, restos radiculares, fracturas dentarias y secuelas de procesos periapicales, así como la intensidad del desgaste dental y el estado de la tabla ósea alveolar anterior para evaluar la incidencia de los distintos tipos de alimentación sobre el aparato masticatorio a partir de observaciones macroscópicas. Los resultados indican, en el grupo agropastoril, un mayor porcentaje de piezas cariadas (29,09%), de individuos con caries (48,80%) y de procesos periapicales (28,18%), probable consecuencia de un alto consumo de hidratos de carbono en su dieta, respecto del grupo de cazadores recolectores, con valores de 14,28%, 42,10% y 15,38%, respectivamente. Este último grupo posee mayores prevalencias de individuos con fracturas dentarias (31,81%), desgaste dental intenso (21,04%) y deterioro intenso de la tabla ósea alveolar (55,26%), atribuible a la ingesta de alimentos duros y fibrosos. Las tendencias identificadas indican procesos de deterioro de la salud bucal claramente diferentes, asociados principalmente a la existencia de patrones alimentarios divergentes.
... Por último, el tercer grupo de artículos que se propone en esta clasificación está constituido por los históricos-arqueológicos sobre muertes violentas (70)(71)(72)(73)(74). El eje común es el abordaje de las muertes violentas temporalmente distantes al momento de desarrollo de la investigación. ...
Introducción:
el artículo presenta una revisión bibliográfica de los artículos científicos sobre muertes violentas en Argentina, publicados entre 2001 y 2016, con el objetivo de describir temas, áreas de conocimiento, disciplinas y metodologías; además, se indaga en qué medida la producción académica capta, interpreta y/o instala las violencias como problema sanitario.
Materiales y métodos:
se relevaron artículos en soporte digital publicados en revistas indizadas en BVS, PubMed, Redalyc, SciELO y Scopus. El corpus final incluyó 72 artículos. Se desarrolló un análisis cuanticualitativo siguiendo la síntesis interpretativa crítica.
Resultados:
se encontró que la bibliografía: a) aborda predominantemente la violencia física; b) se enmarca principalmente dentro de las ciencias médicas; c) tiene objetivos descriptivos; d) se caracteriza por tener alcances geográficos nacionales e institucionales; e) parte de datos primarios para el abordaje empírico, y f) emplea mayoritariamente metodologías de análisis cuantitativas. La mayoría de los artículos aborda el suicidio, y en los estudios sobre homicidio aparece un área de vacancia desde la perspectiva de los homicidas. Si bien estos aspectos describen estructuralmente esta bibliografía, se encontraron núcleos temáticos con características diferentes. Es escaso el uso de estadísticas nacionales para dar cuenta de la relevancia epidemiológica de "las violencias".
Conclusión:
la recurrencia de definiciones y taxonomías de organismos internacionales (principalmente, la Organización Mundial de la Salud) sobre salud y violencia da cuenta de su posición discursiva dominante. Se plantea la necesidad de realizar otros estudios de este tipo, en diferentes países de la región, a fin de tematizar y problematizar la producción académica sobre muertes violentas.
... These were associated with a ritual pit and had perimortem modifications, including enlargement of the foramen magnum (Roldán and Sampietro 2011). In Humahuaca and Calchaqui Valleys, Argentina, 16 skulls dating to the Late Intermediate period also had perforations (Gheggi and Seldes 2012;Seldes and Botta 2014); most belonged to male individuals. These skulls form part of a larger sample that shows signs of interpersonal violence related to local political conflicts during a period of increasing social complexity and territoriality before Inca influence. ...
The Inca expansion to the southern Andes catalyzed important political and symbolic changes in local communities. In addition to economic changes in mining production and the installation of logistical and administrative infrastructure, new forms of ideological violence emerged in the Copiapó Valley, Chile. One new form was the display and discarding of human heads, a burial pattern unprecedented in the region. In this article, we present evidence of perforated heads buried without grave goods next to a local cemetery in a Late Horizon village. We argue that the performative use of modified severed heads from young individuals at the Iglesia Colorada site was part of Inca ritual practices. Their use represented an effort to ideologically rule over newly incorporated subjects by demonstrating power and ensuring their compliance.
... To date, no cases of trepanation have been securely identified in southern Bolivia or Northwest Argentina. Seldes and Botta (2014) report one perimortem cranial perforation from La Huerta in Northwest Argentina that may be a trepanation. However, interpretation of this lesion is complicated as trophy head creation was also common in this region, leaving similar cranial impacts. ...
... Additionally, while the perforation is consistent with perimortem treatment, there is no evidence for healing. It is thus unclear if this defect was part of the trophy head process or an unsuccessful trepanation (Seldes and Botta 2014). Perhaps the dearth of evidence for trepanation south of the Titicaca Basin and altiplano is due to the relatively limited amount of excavation that has occurred in southern Bolivia and Northwest Argentina; archaeologists have not excavated as many burials in these regions, compared to other parts of the Andes. ...
... While trepanation was regularly practiced in parts of Peru and northern Bolivia, no previous definitive examples of trepanation have been presented from Southern Bolivia. The possible trepanation reported by Seldes and Botta (2014) is similar in location and perforation size; however, the lack of healing in that case prevents a clear interpretation of the lesion. The postmortem breakage our example complicates interpretation but also indicates that the external beveling and rounded edges of the defect are indicative of an antemortem intervention rather than postmortem modification or taphonomic damage. ...
Trepanation has been practiced in the Andes since 400 – 200 B.C.E., with numerous examples documented across Peru and Northern Bolivia (Tello 1913; Verano 2016). This practice appears to have been widespread across these areas; however, other parts of the Andes, such as Northwest Argentina, Chile, and Southern Bolivia, have not yet produced examples of cranial surgery, with the exception of one possible example from Northwest Argentina (Seldes and Botta 2014). We present evidence for trepanation from a ca. 650 cal. C.E. burial from a salvage excavation near Tarija, Bolivia. We found that this probable male, adult individual had two blunt force traumatic lesions on the cranium. In addition, there was a rounded perforation on the right posterior skull that showed external beveling and rounded edges consistent with a healed trepanation. We suggest that this case implies that trepanation was more widely practiced than previously understood. Additionally, the correlation between trepanation and blunt force trauma suggests that this surgery was likely performed as a medical procedure, rather than for strictly ritual purposes. Thus, this is an important contribution to the broadening literature on prehispanic trepanation.
... Temporally, radiocarbon dates on human remains and the chronology of pottery and textile style of Pica 8 represent the first half of the LIP (ca AD 900-1300: Catalán, 2006:102-103;Uribe et al., 2007;Agüero, 2007), while the indicators of violence in SPA may represent later moments. This differentiation is not a minor aspect in the characterization of conflict during the LIP, because archaeological evidence from several sites in the South Central Andes suggest a moment of inflection of conflict between AD 1200 and 1300 (Nielsen, 2007;Seldes & Botta, 2014); for example, most of pukaras were built after AD 1200 (Arkush & Stanish, 2005). Territorially, it should be noted that Pica is located 90 km from the coast at 1300 m asl, whereas SPA is 220 km inland and at 2400 m asl ( Figure 1). ...
The Late Intermediate period (LIP, AD 1000-1450) in the South Central Andes is commonly characterized by an increase in violence. Here, we analyse evidence to test whether the population that inhabited the oasis of Pica (Region of Tarapacá, Northern Chile) during LIP was engaged in violent warfare. The analysis of 96 individuals showed a low prevalence of violence-related injuries (N = 6/96). Facial traumas observed on females could be a result of domestic violence, whereas nasal traumas found in males could be interpreted as a result of ritualised combats. One male exhibits a point embedded in his first right rib which is the only injury that can be attributed to open intergroup combat. These findings, combined with the mortuary characteristics of the Pica 8 cemetery, the lack of defensive constructions at the site, the settlement pattern, and the iconography do not support the existence of war at Pica during the LIP. The weapons found at Pica 8 cemetery are elaborately decorated and many are clearly useless in combat so they were likely not made to be used in open conflicts. In addition, clothes considered to belong to warriors may be alternately interpreted as garments used for ceremonial purpose. Taking into account the belligerent climate in contemporaneous San Pedro de Atacama, we suggest that the Pica population employed ritualised violence as a means of avoiding larger conflicts or war. We propose that male violence in controlled scenarios permitted the sublimation of social inequalities or internal conflicts, and could have been used in order to create and maintain social stability. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Warfare in the pre-Columbian Andes took on many forms, from inter-village raids to campaigns of conquest. Andean societies also created spectacular performances and artwork alluding to war – acts of symbolism that worked as political rhetoric while drawing on ancient beliefs about supernatural beings, warriors, and the dead. In this book, Elizabeth Arkush disentangles Andean warfare from Andean war-related spectacle and offers insights into how both evolved over time. Synthesizing the rich archaeological record of fortifications, skeletal injury, and material evidence, she presents fresh visions of war and politics among the Moche, Chimú, Inca, and pre-Inca societies of the conflict-ridden Andean highlands. The changing configurations of Andean power and violence serve as case studies to illustrate a sophisticated general model of the different forms of warfare in pre-modern societies. Arkush's book makes the complex pre-history of Andean warfare accessible by providing a birds-eye view of its major patterns and contrasts.
En este trabajo se presentan los resultados del rescate de dos inhumaciones conteniendo restos humanos en situación de riesgo en Pueblo Viejo de Rodeo Colorado (PVRC), en el Departamento de Iruya, Salta. El análisis incluyó el estudio bioarqueológico de los restos y de las distintas formas de entierro registradas en los valles orientales del norte de Salta sobre la base de investigaciones previas. Presentamos los primeros fechados radiocarbónicos de PVRC y comparamos las formas de entierro y cronología con otros sitios de la región y extra-regionales, principalmente con la Quebrada de Humahuaca. Los entierros registrados pueden ser incorporados dentro de las prácticas funerarias conocidas para la región, aunque uno de ellos es novedoso ya que corresponde al entierro en urna de un cráneo de adulto. Referimos a la necesidad de trabajar junto con las comunidades locales, principalmente en los aspectos en los que tratamos con restos humanos en nuestras investigaciones.
