Auditory exostoses are bone masses located in the external auditory canal. Currently, most researchers agree that the environment (especially water temperature, but also atmospheric temperature and wind action) plays a pivotal role in the development of this trait. This article discusses whether the presence of auditory exostoses can be used as an aquatic activity marker in bioarchaeological studies, especially in groups that inhabited tropical and subtropical regions. We analyzed 676 skeletons (5,000 years BP to historical times) from 27 coastal and inland native Brazilian groups. Very low frequencies of auditory exostoses were found in the inland groups (0.00-0.03), but the expected high frequency of auditory exostoses in the coastal groups was not always observed (0.00-0.56). These differences might be explained by the combination of water and atmospheric temperatures in conjunction with wind effects. In areas with mild atmospheric temperatures and wind chill factors, the coastal populations analyzed do not show high frequencies of auditory exostoses. However, high frequencies of auditory exostoses develop where cold atmospheric temperatures are further lowered by strong wind chill. Therefore, the association between aquatic activities, low atmospheric temperature, and wind chill is strongly correlated with the presence of auditory exostoses, but where these environmental factors are mild, the frequencies of auditory exostoses are not necessarily high. Concluding, auditory exostoses should be cautiously used as a marker of aquatic activity in bioarchaeological studies in tropical and subtropical regions, since these activities do not always result in the presence of this trait.

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.

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