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Looking back, looking forward: Paleopathology in Andean South America
Abstract
Over the past twenty years, the field of Andean paleopathology has advanced significantly thanks to a new generation of scholars who have been attracted to this region and whose innovative research has expanded our knowledge substantially. The papers in this special issue demonstrate how the field of Andean paleopathology has diversified and grown to become what is today a truly interdisciplinary enterprise involving archaeology, ethnohistory, biological anthropology, geochemistry, medical imaging, and genetics. These studies apply theoretical approaches to research questions that are increasingly innovative and nuanced as well as analytical methods that were in their infancy when I wrote my 1997 survey of the field.
Modern strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from the Americas are closely related to those from Europe, supporting the assumption that human tuberculosis was introduced post-contact. This notion, however, is incompatible with archaeological evidence of pre-contact tuberculosis in the New World. Comparative genomics of modern isolates suggests that M. tuberculosis attained its worldwide distribution following human dispersals out of Africa during the Pleistocene epoch, although this has yet to be confirmed with ancient calibration points. Here we present three 1,000-year-old mycobacterial genomes from Peruvian human skeletons, revealing that a member of the M. tuberculosis complex caused human disease before contact. The ancient strains are distinct from known human-adapted forms and are most closely related to those adapted to seals and sea lions. Two independent dating approaches suggest a most recent common ancestor for the M. tuberculosis complex less than 6,000 years ago, which supports a Holocene dispersal of the disease. Our results implicate sea mammals as having played a role in transmitting the disease to humans across the ocean.
Background
Evidence of atherosclerotic plaques in ancient populations has led to the reconsideration of risk factors for heart disease and of the common belief that it is a disease of modern times.
Methods
Fifty-one wrapped mummy bundles excavated from the sites of Huallamarca, Pedreros, and Rinconada La Molina from the Puruchuco Museum collection in Lima, Peru, were scanned using computed tomography to investigate the presence of atherosclerosis. Funerary artifacts contained within the undisturbed mummy bundles were analyzed as an attempt to infer the social status of the individuals to correlate social status with evidence of heart disease in this ancient Peruvian group. This work also provides an inventory of the museum mummy collection to guide and facilitate future research.
Results
Statistical analysis concluded that there is little association between the types of grave goods contained within the bundles when the groups are pooled together. However, some patterns of artifact type, material, atherosclerosis, and sex emerge when the 3 excavation sites are analyzed separately.
Conclusions
From the current sample, it would seem that social class is difficult to discern, but those from Huallamarca have the most markers of elite status. We had hypothesized that higher-status individuals may have had lifestyles that would place them at a higher risk for atherogenesis. There seems to be some indication of this within the site of Huallamarca, but it is inconclusive in the other 2 archeological sites. It is possible that a larger sample size in the future could reveal more statistically significant results.
Over the pre-Columbian sequence, Andean warfare ranged greatly in
intensity. This review combines published information on cranial trauma and settlement
patterns, which often align and clarify each other, to make an initial
assessment of how severely Andean populations were affected by war over time and
space. The data speak to a number of major topics in the archaeology of warfare, such
as the origin of war, contrasts in state militarism, and changes in the practice of war
related to social organization. Although there is considerable regional variation, two
large-scale ‘‘waves’’ of escalated conflict that are clearly supported by the cranial
trauma and settlement pattern data occurred in the Final Formative (late Early
Horizon, 400 BC–AD 100) and the Late Intermediate period (AD 1000–1400).
Paleopathology in Andean South America
Over the past one hundred years, paleopathological research has grown from the occasional description of the odd and curious to what is today a dynamic and multidisciplinary field. South American skeletal and mummified remains played a key role in stimulating the development of the discipline in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The past twenty years have witnessed a renewed interest in the paleopathology of prehistoric Andean populations. Recent studies are characterized by growing sophistication in both research methods and theory, and significant advances have been made in understanding diet, disease, and general health patterns in the prehistoric Andean world.
Hrdlicka ([1914] Smithson. Inst. Misc. Collect. 61:1-69) reported that pre-Columbian skeletal material from the coastal lowland Andean region exhibited a high frequency of porotic hyperostosis, a pathological condition of bone that generally is thought to indicate childhood anemia. While subsequent studies tended to reinforce this conclusion, factors implicated in the condition have yet to be fully explored in the region as a whole. This study explores regional and intravalley variation as one step in establishing biocultural variables that increase the apparent risk of childhood anemia. The study sample includes 1,465 individuals: 512 from Peruvian collections housed at the Field Museum of Natural History, and 953 from systematically excavated contexts from Moquegua, Peru. Environmental stressors, such as parasites and disease, rather than specific dietary practices were found to be more likely associated with childhood anemia in these coastal Andean samples. The study supports cribra orbitalia as an earlier expression of porotic hyperostosis and suggests that porotic hyperostosis, as recorded here, cannot be easily dismissed as a result of cranial shape modification. No clear temporal patterns were observed. Finally, the study establishes that comparing data for children and adults can reveal the relative association between childhood anemia and mortality. Childhood mortality associated with anemia was elevated where the presence of tuberculosis or tuberculosis-like conditions was more common and the presence of water-borne pathogens was negligible. In contrast, those buried at lower altitudes, closer to the coast, and consuming mainly marine resources were less likely to die in childhood with anemia than in the other contexts studied.
This article describes the hidden natural chemical contaminants present in a unique desert environment and their health consequences on ancient populations. Currently, millions of people are affected worldwide by toxic elements such as arsenic. Using data gathered from Atacama Desert mummies, we discuss long‐term exposure and biocultural adaptation to toxic elements. The rivers that bring life to the Atacama Desert are paradoxically laden with arsenic and other minerals that are invisible and tasteless. High intake of these toxic elements results in severe health and behavioral problems, and even death. We demonstrate that Inca colonies, from Camarones 9 site, were significantly affected by chemical contaminants in their food and water. It appears however, some modern‐day Andean populations resist the elevated levels of arsenic exposure as a result of positive selection mediated via the arsenic methyltransferase enzyme and display more tolerance to high chemical doses. This article further debate the effects of natural pollution and biocultural adaptation of past populations.
This introductory chapter to the Special Issue on "Scientific Rigor in Paleopathology" serves to orient and introduce the chapters that follow through a detailed consideration of paleopathology as a 21st century intellectual field. In this vein, we first make the significant point that paleopathology is a profoundly interdisciplinary endeavor, encompassing aspects of the biomedical science, the humanities, and the social sciences. Thus, we suggest that no one practitioner can personally command the range of skills necessary for a 21st century paleopathologist. To maintain rigor in differential diagnosis, we emphasize collaborations and consider key concepts that illustrate the basic knowledge from each of these fields that any paleopathologist should command. We then address the manner in which disease diagnosis should proceed as a scientific endeavor. To illustrate scientific rigor in differential diagnosis, we present two case studies drawn from 1970s contributions by Cook and by Buikstra. Finally, we introduce Chapters 2-6, which address differential diagnosis in contexts ranging from specific conditions (scurvy, trepanation) to broader field-wide considerations (paleoparasitology, historical paleopathology, imaging, animal paleopathology).
Peru has many unique ecological and historical features that make it particularly well suited for the study of human remains from various archaeological contexts. Perhaps its most distinctive feature is the extremely arid climate in the coastal regions and highlands, which preserves a wide range of organic materials, including human remains, textiles, faunal and floral materials. An analysis of human remains in Peru can therefore include not only standard osteological analyses, but also a variety of additional tests that increase our ability to interpret past human behaviour. Additionally, many Peruvian communities continue to live in a manner that resembles that of their Pre-Columbian ancestors. As such, there exists a wealth of ethnographic and ethnohistorical data that can be used to develop contextual frameworks for the interpretation of archaeological data. These features make the Andes an extremely important area in which to evaluate past models of biological identity and mobility, patterns of health and trauma, and population dynamics. Yet in examining the emergence of bioarchaeology in Peru, it is quite surprising to find that the study of skeletal collections from archaeological contexts is a relatively new academic discipline that began in the late 1970s. In this paper, we trace the development of such studies beginning with the research of the Peruvian Dr. Julio C. Tello and extending to current multidisciplinary approaches of ancient human remains by both Peruvian and non-Peruvian bioarchaeologists. In contrast to other countries, the excavation and study of human remains is still possible in Peru, as human remains figure less prominently in the construction of contemporaneous indigenous Peruvian identities.
Despite being one of the most famous archaeological cemeteries in Peru, many questions remain about the people who were buried at the Paracas Necropolis of Wari Kayan, which was first excavated by Julio C. Tello in 1925. Here, we use bioarchaeology and biogeochemistry to elucidate the lives of individuals buried at Wari Kayan. More specifically, we present 90 new δ13Ckeratin and δ15Nkeratin values from 14 individuals buried at Wari Kayan and two artifacts made of human hair (mean δ13Ckeratin (VPDB) = −15.3 ± 0.9‰ (1σ, n = 90) and mean δ15Nkeratin (AIR) = +15.5 ± 1.2‰ (1σ, n = 90)). We interpret these light stable isotope data from archaeological human hair samples from the Paracas Necropolis of Wari Kayan as evidence for a mixed diet of C4 and C3 foods as dietary carbon sources and marine products as dietary nitrogen sources. Sequential hair samples from the same individuals do not exhibit large isotopic differences in hair that formed at different times before death. In addition to elucidating paleodiet at this important site, we interpret sequential isotopic hair data as evidence of a population whose diet was predominately coastal in the last weeks or months of life, either remaining on the coast or consuming coastal products in the highlands. These data elucidate paleodiet as well as the utility of applying newer isotopic methods to archaeological human remains from older museum collections to gain a better understanding of the past.
Over the past 100 years, paleopathology has grown from the occasional description of the odd and curious to what is today a dynamic and multidisciplinary field. South American skeletal and mummified remains played a key role in stimulating the development of the discipline in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The past 20 years have witnessed a renewed interest in the paleopathology of prehistoric Andean populations. Recent studies are characterized by growing sophistication in both research methods and theory, and significant advances have been made in understanding diet, disease, and general health patterns in the prehistoric Andean world.
Los fardos de Ancon-Perú (800d.C-1532d.C), Una perspectiva bioarqueológica de los cambios sociales en la Costa Central del Perú
- Watson Jimenez
Some results of recent anthropological exploration in Peru
- Hrdlička
Preserving the heritage of the chachapoya: the museo leymebamba and the mummies from laguna de los cóndores
- Guillén