Were Chinchorros exposed to arsenic? Arsenic determination in Chinchorro mummies' hair by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS)

Byrne, Sam; Amarasiriwardena, Dulasiri; Bandak, Basel; Bartkus, Luke; Kane, Jennifer B.; Jones, Joseph; Yáñez, Jorge; Arriaza, Bernardo; Cornejo, Lorena

doi:10.1016/j.microc.2009.08.006

Cited by 78 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…A matrix element 13 C was used as an internal standard to compensate for ablation variation and instrumental drifts during the analysis of hair. Also, the LA-ICP-MS system was calibrated using a set of contemporary human hair strands with known arsenic concentrations from the same region (0.25, 3.5, and 20.5 mg/g) (Amarasiriwardena et al, 2008;Byrne et al, 2010;Steely et al, 2007).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring chronic arsenic poisoning in pre-Columbian Chilean mummies

Arriaza

Amarasiriwardena

Cornejo

et al. 2010

Journal of Archaeological Science

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring chronic arsenic poisoning in pre-Columbian Chilean mummies

Arriaza

Amarasiriwardena

Cornejo

et al. 2010

Journal of Archaeological Science

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“…Los niveles del mar durante el Holoceno fueron obtenidos de varias fuentes (Waelbroeck et al 2002). Arriaza, Allison and Standen 1984;Aufderheide 2003;Aufderheide and Rodríguez-Martín 1998;Boston and Arriaza 2009;Byrne et al 2010;Reinhard and Aufderheide 1990;Reinhard and Urban 2003;Standen 1991;Standen et al 1984;Standen andArriaza 1999, 2000a;Standen et al 1997). This pathological profile, which clearly increased over time (Arriaza 1995a;Standen 2011;Standen et al 1997), suggests long-term residence of all members of the Chinchorro nuclear social groups, rather than permanent residential mobility, which may amplify the possibilities for transmission of infectious diseases, along with the contamination of the recurrently used domestic spaces and the scarce sources of fresh water, facilitating the proliferation of bacteria, viruses, and parasites (Standen 2011).…”

Section: Enterratorio No Datado De Dos Individuos Del Sitio Los Canmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For instance, Camarones arsenic level in the water is 100 times higher than accepted WHO recommendations, and considering its nocive effect of population (i.e. premature births, stillbirths, low birth weight, spontaneous abortions, high infant mortality, systemic organ damage and low red blood cell production made Arriaza and collaborators to suggest this problem as possible cause for the origin of AM, as a social response (Arriaza 2005;Boston and Arriaza 2009;Byrne et al 2010). What we see is that the apparent stressful and conflicting social atmosphere and the transformation of natural conditions during the later phase of the Chinchorrro were associated with a diversification and an increase in AM procedures (Table 1), which means that besides the technological changes to intensify production people made effort to build on the ideological side and rituals of their social structure.…”

Section: Potencial Conectividad a Través De La Costa Norte De Chile Dmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rise and Decline of Chinchorro Sacred Landscapes Along the Hyperarid Coast of the Atacama Desert

et al. 2012

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The study of complex funerary ritual development among hunters and gatherers societies should take into account how people made up for the continuity of their social system without the support of centralized organizations. This research integrates cultural and natural factors to explore how the Chinchorro carried on with their way of life isolated at geographically restricted perennial river mouths with fresh water along the Atacama Desert in the Pacific coast of South America. Within these rather crowded settlings, they created and maintained a social system catalyzed by a complex funerary tradition, embodied by a unique funerary ideological discourse that resulted in the creation of a sacred landscape or "spiritscape". We argue that the extreme hyperaridity of the coastal Atacama Desert (21º -17.30º S), and the extraordinary biomass production of the marine littoral constituted a fundamental milieu for the maintenance of their long-term social system. The Chinchorro belief system lasted for several millennia (8,000-4,000 BP), but new ways of life and burial practices followed major changes in the coastal ecosystem they relied on, which would have influenced how the "old tradition" was manifested over time. Conversely, we sustain that these natural "constraints" faced by the Chinchorro along the coast of the Atacama Desert, were influential, in the course of their history or the way they socially organized themselves.Key words: Chinchorro spiritscape, sacred landscape, hyperaridity, coastal Atacama Desert. Social and territorial circumscription among hunters and gatherers during the PleistoceneHolocene transition was a worldwide phenomenon. Nevertheless, the cultural effects of these processes on societies that colonized marginal and environmentally extreme landscapes remain poorly studied. This is the case of the Chinchorro, a mid-Holocene decentralized society that as coastal-marine huntergatherers, faced and learned to live in the Mars-like Atacama Desert extreme hyperarid coast of northern Chile (Drees et al. 2006).The Chinchorro were a cultural tradition of hunters, fishermen, and gatherers that relied mostly on marine resources, complemented by some terrestrial ones, and whose extractive economy did not include animal and crop husbandry or any other form of cultivation. The archaeological background of these peoples shows that for approximately five millennia they maintained a social system that included a semi-sedentary settlement pattern centered around residential camps located along the few isolated mouths of perennial rivers (canyons) and springs that flowed into the Pacific within their territory (Figure 1) . Mobility was likely restricted to interior oases formed by isolated springs and rivers within hyperarid conditions, from where they obtained complementary resources (i.e. lithic raw material, which are absent on the coast; (Núñez 1975;Schiappacasse 1995;Schiappacasse and Niemeyer 1975), although no evidence exists for the introduction of obsidian, found only in the high Andes.Thus, the Chinchor...

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“…Moreover, the cysteine facilitates structural rigidity in hair. The disulfide sites along with reduced sulfur groups (-SH) often provide sites for complexation of trace metals and metalloids excreted by the body [40]. Thus, profound accumulation of As in hair during exposure is of value in the diagnosis of As poisoning [41,42].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of Toxic Risk Assessment of Arsenic in Male Subjects Through Drinking Water in Southern Sindh Pakistan

Baig

Kazi

Shah

et al. 2010

Biol Trace Elem Res

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The arsenic (As) hazardous quotient was estimated based on concentration of As in drinking water and scalp hair of male subjects of two age groups (n=360) consuming As contaminated water at different levels and non-contaminated drinking water. The total As concentrations in drinking water of less-exposed (LE) and high-exposed (HE) areas was found to be 3- to 30-fold higher than the permissible limit of the World Health Organization (2004) for drinking water, while the levels of As in drinking water of non-exposed (NE) areas was within the permissible limit. The levels of As in scalp hair samples of male subjects of two age groups belonging to NE, LE, and HE areas ranged from 0.01 to 0.27, 0.11-1.31, and 0.36-6.80 μg/g, respectively. A significant correlation between As contents of drinking water and As concentration in scalp hair was observed in sub-district Gambit (r=0.825-0.852, p<0.001) as compared to those subjects belonging to LE sub-district Thari Mirwah. A toxicity risk assessment provides a hazard quotient corresponding to <10 that indicates non-carcinogenic exposure risk of understudy areas.

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Were Chinchorros exposed to arsenic? Arsenic determination in Chinchorro mummies' hair by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS)

Cited by 78 publications

References 20 publications

Exploring chronic arsenic poisoning in pre-Columbian Chilean mummies

Exploring chronic arsenic poisoning in pre-Columbian Chilean mummies

Rise and Decline of Chinchorro Sacred Landscapes Along the Hyperarid Coast of the Atacama Desert

Evaluation of Toxic Risk Assessment of Arsenic in Male Subjects Through Drinking Water in Southern Sindh Pakistan

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