ResumoA reunião de dados originais e de revisões da literatura, numa abordagem multidisciplinar praticamente inédita na arqueologia brasileira, forneceu subsídios para um melhor conhecimento da sociedade sambaquieira. Análises antracoló-gicas permitiram a reconstrução paleoecológica do ambiente costeiro, além de prover informações sobre a economia do combustível nesta sociedade e sua dieta. Análises paleopatológicas revelaram aspectos importantes do modo de vida dos sambaquieiros e de sua relação com o meio ambiente. A combinação dos resultados destas duas disciplinas, associadas a análises líticas, apontou para um espectro econômico e de subsistên-cia bem mais amplo do que se supunha anteriormente, confirmou a importância das plantas para esta sociedade e forneceu bases mais sólidas para o debate a respeito de manejo e cultivo de vegetais.Palavras-chave: subsistência, cultivo, antracologia, paleopatologia, sambaquis 1 Este artigo é fruto de uma intensa colaboração entre os autores, sendo que todos participaram com dados significativos; as primeiras três autoras contribuíram igualmente para sua realização.

This work provides robust oral pathology and stable isotope evidence on Bayesian mixing model for an unexpectedly high consumption of carbohydrates by a Middle Holocene coastal population of the Atlantic Forest of South America, an area traditionally viewed as peripheral to early centres of food production on the continent. A diversified economy with substantial consumption of plant resources was in place at the shellmound (or sambaqui) of Morro do Ouro, in Babitonga Bay, and supported a dense population at ca 4500 cal BP. This dietary composition is unique when compared with that of other contemporary and later groups in the region, including peoples who used ceramics and domesticated crops. The results corroborate independent dietary evidence, such as stone tool artefacts for plant processing and plant microremains in dental calculus of the same individuals, and suggest plant cultivation possibly took place in this region at the same time as the development of early agriculture in Amazonia and the La Plata Basin. Our study situates the Atlantic Forest coast of Brazil on the map of early plant management in the Neotropics.

The contact of inland and coastal prehistoric groups in Brazil is believed to have been restricted to regions with no geographical barrier, as is the case in the Ribeira de Iguape valley. The inland osteological collection from the riverine shellmound Moraes (5800-4500 BP) represents a unique opportunity to test this assumption for this region. Despite cultural similarities between riverine and coastal shellmounds, important ecological and site distribution differences are expected to impact on lifestyle. The purpose of this study is thus to document and interpret health and lifestyle indicators in Moraes in comparison to coastal shellmound groups. Specifically we test if the rare evidence of fish and mollusk remains in the riverine shellmound led to (a) higher caries rates and (b) lower auditory exostosis frequency and (c) if the small size of the riverine shellmound translates into reduced demographic density and thus rarity of communicable infectious diseases. Of the three hypotheses, (a) was confirmed, (b) was rejected and (c) was partly rejected. Bioanthropological similarities between Moraes and coastal shellmounds include auditory exostoses with equally high frequencies; significantly more frequent osteoarthritis in upper than in lower limbs; cranial and dental morphological affinities and low frequencies of violent trauma. However, there are also important differences: Moraes subsisted on a much broader protein diet and consumed more cariogenic food, but showed a stature even shorter than coastal groups. Thus, despite the contact also suggested by treponematoses in both site types, there was enough time for the people at the riverine site to adapt to local conditions. 406 E g g e r s e t a l . i n H O M O -J o u r n a l o f C o m pa r at i v e H u m a n B i o l o g y 5 9 ( 2 0 0 8 ) ResumoO contato de grupos pré-históricos brasileiros interioranos e costeiros é tido como restrito a regiões sem barreiras geográficas, como é o caso do vale do Ribeira de Iguape. A coleção osteológica interiorana do sambaqui fluvial Moraes (5800-4500 pYB) representa uma oportunidade única para testar tal afirmação para a região sudeste. Embora haja similaridades culturais entre sambaquis fluviais e costeiros, espera-se que as importantes diferenças ecológicas e de padrão de assentamento influenciariam a saúde. No presente estudo, objetiva-se documentar e interpretar indicadores de saúde e estilo de vida dos habitants de Moraes, em comparação com sambaquieiros da costa. Mais especificamente investigamos se as raras evidências faunísticas de peixe e molusco no sambaqui fluvial associamse a (a) frequencias de cáries mais elevadas, e (b) proporções menores de exostose auditiva e se (c) as diminutas dimensões do sítio fluvial correspondem a baixa densidade demográfica e consequentemente baixos índices de doenças infecciosas transmissíveis. Confirmou-se (a), enquanto (b) foi inteiramente, e (c) parcialmente, rejeitada. Semelhanças bioantropológicas entre habitantes de Moraes e sambaquieiros da costa incluem exostese auditi...

In this study, we shed light on the interdependency of child growth, morbidity and life expectancy in the fisher-hunter-gatherers of the Jabuticabeira II shell mound (1214-830 cal B.C. E. -118-413 cal C.E.) located at the South Coast of Brazil. We test the underlying causes of heterogeneity in frailty and selective mortality in a population that inhabits a plentiful environment in sedentary settlements. We reconstruct osteobiographies of 41 individuals (23 adults and 18 subadults) using 8 variables, including age-at-death, stature, non-specific stress markers (cribra orbitalia, porotic hyperostosis, periosteal reactions, periapical lesions and linear enamel hypoplasia), as well as weaning patterns based on stable isotope data to examine how stress factors module growth and survival. Our results show that shorter adult statures were linked to higher morbidity around weaning age and higher chances of dying earlier (before 35 years) than taller adult statures. In addition, short juvenile stature was related to physiological stressors and mortality. The adult "survivors" experienced recurrent periods of morbidity during childhood and adulthood, possibly associated with the high parasite load of the ecosystem and dense settlement rather than to malnourishment. An association between early-stress exposure and premature death was not demonstrated in our sample. To explain our data, we propose a new model called "intermittent stress of low lethality". According to this model, individuals are exposed to recurrent stress during the juvenile and adult stages of life, and, nevertheless survive until reproductive age or later with relative success.