Abstract

BETTERA MARCAT, Gianina C.  and  ARRIETA, Mario Alberto. Exploratory analysis of entheseal changes in an agropastoral society from northwestern Argentina at Hispanic-Indigenous contact moments: La Falda (SJ TIL 43) site. Rev Arg Antrop Biol [online]. 2022, vol.24, n.2, e056.  Epub July 01, 2022. ISSN 1514-7991.  http://dx.doi.org/10.24215/18536387e056.

The examination of entheseal changes offers a promising perspective for addressing the study of physical activity and body use in past populations. Thus, the aim of this work is to analyze the level of expression of such changes to explore, from a bioarchaeological approach, the patterns and levels of physical activity in a skeletal sample from the site of La Falda (Tilcara, Jujuy). This site has been assigned to the early Hispanic-Indigenous period and radiocarbon dates suggest that it was used between 1460 and 1639 cal AD. The sample is made up of 18 adult skeletons with estimated age and sex. For the analysis, 17 fibrocartilaginous entheses were selected, which were recorded using the new Coimbra method. Frequencies of changes were calculated and generalized linear models were used to statistically compare prevalence between laterality, sexes, and ages. Statistical analyzes yielded significant differences between age groups and sexes. No significant differences were observed in terms of laterality. The low number of significant differences made it difficult to establish a differential pattern in terms of age and sex. However, the results suggest greater engagement in women of upper limb muscles, and of the lower limbs in men, mainly with regard to greater mobility. Finally, the usefulness of employing the analysis of entheseal changes to explore the biomechanical stress levels required by the lifestyles of agropastoral populations is highlighted, emphasizing the importance of using the new Coimbra method.

Keywords : enthesis; activity markers; Coimbra method; generalized linear models.

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