Trauma in the preceramic coastal populations of northern Chile: Violence or occupational hazards?

✍ Scribed by Standen, Vivien G.; Arriaza, Bernardo T.

• Book ID: 101216659
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 341 KB
• Volume: 112
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0002-9483
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1096-8644(2000)112:2<239::aid-ajpa9>3.0.co;2-3

✦ Synopsis

One hundred and forty-four Chinchorro skeletons, stored at the Museo Arqueolo ´gico San Miguel de Azapa in Arica, Chile, were examined to test the following alternative hypotheses concerning skeletal trauma: either observed trauma was a consequence of interpersonal violence, or was the result of work-related accidents. Trauma found in subadults was rare, with 1.8% (1/55) contrasted with 30% (27/89) in the adult population. The location of most adult trauma was the skull with 24.6% (17/69), followed by the upper extremities with 8.7% (7/80), the trunk with 2.9% (2/68), and the lower extremities with the least trauma at 1.1% (1/89). Skull trauma corresponded to well-healed, semicircular fractures, with males being three times more affected than females at 34.2% (13/38) and 12.9% (4/31), respectively. Most fractures were nonlethal, appearing to have been caused by impacts from stones, suggesting interpersonal violence rather than accidents. This study indicates that the egalitarian, maritime, hunter-gatherer Chinchorro culture (circa 4000 years B.