Abstract

GHEGGI, María Soledad. Un acercamiento al estado de salud y enfermedad en las comunidades de valles y quebradas del Noroeste Argentino desde una mirada biocultural (ca. 1000-1550 AD). Runa [online]. 2015, vol.36, n.2, pp.111-136. ISSN 1851-9628.

The effects that demographic, political and economic changes proposed for Northwest Argentina ca. 1000-1550 A.D. would have had on lifestyle of populations who inhabited it are evaluated from the study of pathological conditions of the skull and dentition in a human bone sample from the Quebrada de Humahuaca, Calchaquí Valley and Quebrada del Toro (n= 268). The low frequency of porotic diseases and infections in the sample suggests that most individuals suffered no significant events of nutritional-metabolic and infectious stress. However, statistically significant differences were recorded in the prevalence of porotic diseases for certain sites from middle Calchaquí Valley. These results are interpreted in light of a biocultural approach that emphasizes the political - economic component of the social relations of the past.

Keywords : Northwest Argentina; Health status; Biocultural; Stress; Nutrition.