Para a infância e mais além: uma perspectiva bioarqueológica da alimentação, estresse e morte em duas sociedades sambaquieiras

Abstract

The present work aims to deepen the understanding about diet and stress patterns during childhood, and to investigate the relationship between them, in the human skeletal series from the coastal shell mound Piaçaguera (7151-5668 years cal. BP) and the riverine shell mound Moraes (6791-4971 years cal. BP), both located in the State of São Paulo, Brazil. For diet, isotopic analyzes (δ 13 C and δ 15 N) were made in bone and dentine collagen, including some new approaches, such as the sequential dentine microsamples and the Bayesian mixture modeling for diet reconstruction. For the study of stress patterns, two osteological markers (Porotic Hyperostosis and Cribra Orbitalia) and one dental marker (Linear Enamel Hypoplasia) were analyzed. For Piaçaguera group, a dietary preference for marine fish, but also an important consumption of terrestrial animals, followed by freshwater fish and C3 plants was observed; during childhood were not found different weaning ages, and the post-weaning diet is similar to that of adults.The division of the Piaçaguera group showed a difference regarding patterns of exposure to develop anemia and of other environmental stressors during childhood, and a small difference regarding diet. For the Moraes group, a dietary preference for terrestrial animals, followed by freshwater fish and C3 plants was observed. The results led to the development of a new characteristic for Moraes group, in which the consumption of freshwater fish, together with prolonged breastfeeding, appears to buffer the impact that environmental stressors would be exerting on pregnant women and neonate babies. This study achieved rich details that made it possible to achieve a more comprehensive picture about the lives of some people, that allowed to infer models for the lifestyle of these two groups.