A new early Holocene human skeleton from Brazil: implications for the settlement of the New World

Neves, Walter Alves; Hübbe, Mark; Okumura, Mercedes; González‐José, Rolando; Figuti, Levy; Eggers, Sabine; Blasis, Paulo Antonio Dantas de

doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2004.12.001

Cited by 65 publications

(55 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…What can be said is that walking distances seem to have been relatively small in comparison to the effort, frequency and intensity of physical activities carried out with the upper limbs. These would include aquatic activities, as suggested for coastal sambaqui groups (Neves, 1986;Okumura and Eggers, 2005;Petronilho, 2005;Rodrigues-Carvalho, 2004), and indirectly supported by the few marine faunal elements found at this inland shellmound. However, inland site distribution, zooarchaeological, caries and dental calculus results seem not to be in conformity with that, since few fish remains, a high caries rate and many starch grains suggesting highly cariogenic (and low marine) diet were found.…”

Section: Frequency Of Auditory Exostoses: Aquatic Activity?mentioning

confidence: 59%

“…The results of microfossil analysis of dental calculus show that Moraes' high caries rate (12%) is possibly associated with a significantly higher concentration of starch grains (some of them cooked) in dental calculus than that observed in the people from the coastal site Jabuticabeira II , who show a very low caries frequency (0.44%- Okumura and Eggers, 2005). Considering this evidence and the absence of indicators of plant domestication at a large scale, we conclude that the cariogenic intake in Moraes possibly consisted of energy rich plants, such as tubers , gathered randomly and/or harvested as a product of incipient farming.…”

Section: High Caries Frequency Carbohydrate Rich Diet and Short Staturementioning

confidence: 82%

“…If this inference is correct, the very short stature of the people from Moraes is unexpected. Even in comparison to adult stature of coastal sambaquis and other prehistoric and extant Amerindians (156-167 cm for males and 148-157 cm for females- Okumura and Eggers, 2005;Scheel-Ybert et al, 2003;Storto et al, 1999), the people from Moraes are indeed very small (males: 141-155 cm; females:130-140 cm).…”

Section: High Caries Frequency Carbohydrate Rich Diet and Short Staturementioning

confidence: 95%

“…Although the coastal Brazilian shellmound builders were of relatively short stature, they were within the range of variation of prehistoric and extant Native Americans (Storto et al, 1999). High frequency of non-specific infections in many shellmound groups is attributed to the intense contact with animal remains and pathogens typical for tropical coastal areas (Mendonça de Souza, 1995), whereas the evidence of specific communicable infectious diseases in some of the sites suggests high population density (Okumura and Eggers, 2005). Although many neighboring sites are contemporaneous, an overall low frequency of violent trauma among shellmound dwellers indicates a relatively peaceful lifestyle and little competition for food resources (Lessa and Medeiros, 2001;Okumura and Eggers, 2005).…”

Section: Brazilian Shellmoundsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The high frequencies of cribra orbitalia (~56%) and porotic hyperostosis (~41%) found in the sample from Moraes suggest that childhood and growth in Moraes was physiologically stressing, especially for males. These juvenile stress indicators are also frequent in most coastal shellmound builders, ranging from 20% to 70% (Mendonça de Souza, 1995;Neves and Wesolowski, 2002;Okumura and Eggers, 2005;Scheel-Ybert et al, 2003;Storto et al, 1999). Since the frequencies of these markers in Moraes are not much different as compared to the majority of coastal sites (with higher adult stature), they do not satisfactorily explain adult stature stunting in this inland site.…”

Section: High Caries Frequency Carbohydrate Rich Diet and Short Staturementioning

confidence: 99%

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How does a riverine setting affect the lifestyle of shellmound builders in Brazil?

Eggers

Petronilho

Brandt

et al. 2008

HOMO

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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...

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Section: Frequency Of Auditory Exostoses: Aquatic Activity?mentioning

confidence: 59%

Section: High Caries Frequency Carbohydrate Rich Diet and Short Staturementioning

confidence: 82%

Section: High Caries Frequency Carbohydrate Rich Diet and Short Staturementioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Brazilian Shellmoundsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: High Caries Frequency Carbohydrate Rich Diet and Short Staturementioning

confidence: 99%

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How does a riverine setting affect the lifestyle of shellmound builders in Brazil?

Eggers

Petronilho

Brandt

et al. 2008

HOMO

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“Zuzu” strikes again—Morphological affinities of the early holocene human skeleton from Toca dos Coqueiros, Piaui, Brazil

Hübbe

Neves

Amaral

et al. 2007

American J Phys Anthropol

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The Serra da Capivara National Park in northeastern Brazil is one of the richest archaeological regions in South America. Nonetheless, so far only two paleoindian skeletons have been exhumed from the local rockshelters. The oldest one (9870 +/- 50 BP; CAL 11060 +/- 50), uncovered in Toca dos Coqueiros and known as "Zuzu," represents a rare opportunity to explore the biological relationships of paleoindian groups living in northeastern Brazil. As previously demonstrated, South and Central America Paleoindians present skull morphology distinct from the one found nowadays in Amerindians and similar to Australo-Melanesians. Here we test the hypothesis that Zuzu shows higher morphological affinity with Paleoindians. However, Zuzu is a controversial skeleton since previous osteological assessments have disagreed on several aspects, especially regarding its sex. Thus, we compared Zuzu to males and females independently. Morphological affinities were assessed through clustering of principal components considering 18 worldwide populations and through principal components analysis of the individual dispersion of five key regions for America's settlement. The results obtained do not allow us to refute the hypothesis, expanding the known geographical dispersion of the Paleoindian morphology into northeast Brazil. To contribute to the discussion regarding Zuzu's sex, a new estimation is presented based on visual inspection of cranial and post-cranial markers, complemented by a discriminant analysis of its morphology in relation to the paleoindian sample. The results favor a male classification and are consistent with the mortuary offerings found in the burial, yet do not agree with a molecular determination.

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The peopling of America: Craniofacial shape variation on a continental scale and its interpretation from an interdisciplinary view

González‐José

Bortolini

Santos

et al. 2008

American J Phys Anthropol

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172

165

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Twenty-two years ago, Greenberg, Turner and Zegura (Curr. Anthropol. 27,477-495, 1986) suggested a multidisciplinary model for the human settlement of the New World. Since their synthesis, several studies based mainly on partial evidence such as skull morphology and molecular genetics have presented competing, apparently mutually exclusive, settlement hypotheses. These contradictory views are represented by the genetic-based Single Wave or Out of Beringia models and the cranial morphology-based Two Components/Stocks model. Here, we present a geometric morphometric analysis of 576 late Pleistocene/early Holocene and modern skulls suggesting that the classical Paleoamerican and Mongoloid craniofacial patterns should be viewed as extremes of a continuous morphological variation. Our results also suggest that recent contact among Asian and American circumarctic populations took place during the Holocene. These results along with data from other fields are synthesized in a model for the settlement of the New World that considers, in an integrative and parsimonious way, evidence coming from genetics and physical anthropology. This model takes into account a founder population occupying Beringia during the last glaciation characterized by high craniofacial diversity, founder mtDNA and Y-chromosome lineages and some private autosomal alleles. After a Beringian population expansion, which could have occurred concomitant with their entry into America, more recent circumarctic gene flow would have enabled the dispersion of northeast Asian-derived characters and some particular genetic lineages from East Asia to America and vice versa.

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A new early Holocene human skeleton from Brazil: implications for the settlement of the New World

Cited by 65 publications

References 29 publications

How does a riverine setting affect the lifestyle of shellmound builders in Brazil?

How does a riverine setting affect the lifestyle of shellmound builders in Brazil?

“Zuzu” strikes again—Morphological affinities of the early holocene human skeleton from Toca dos Coqueiros, Piaui, Brazil

The peopling of America: Craniofacial shape variation on a continental scale and its interpretation from an interdisciplinary view

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