Biological Anthropology of Latin America: Historical Development and Recent Advances

International Journal of Paleopathology, 2020

In the 20 years since the publication of John Verano's foundational paper "Advances in Paleopathology of Andean South America," paleopathological and bioarchaeological investigations of human skeletal remains in the region have increased dramatically. Today, primary foci have grown to span the identification of disease, detailed reconstructions of biocultural interactions, embodied social experiences, and ancient living worlds. In this special issue, more than a dozen scholars reflect on the state of developments in the scientific analyses of ancient disease, life, and society across the region. For this introductory article, we frame the current state of Andean paleopathology by reviewing key historical contributions beginning in the last century. More recent trends since 1997 are defined via a meta-analysis of the literature. We then highlight current innovations and consider future directions of study. We then close with an overview of the papers comprising this special issue. Each article explores major theoretical, topical, and methodological advances that have transpired since 1997 and charts the course for the next two decades of work-with implications and insights that transcend the Andes and speak to key paleopathological issues around the world.

Recent reviews have demonstrated an increase in the number of papers on ethnobiology in Latin America. Among factors that have influenced this increase are the biological and cultural diversity of these countries and the general scientific situation in some countries. This study aims to assess the panorama of ethnobiological research in Latin America by analyzing its evolution, trends, and future prospects.

The state of the art of Ethology in five Latin America countries is briefly presented here. The overall outlook regarding research laboratories and themes is promising: the community is numerous, active and there are topics addressing all aspects of animal behavior, especially in large countries like Brazil and Argentina. Ethology as an undergraduate discipline is generally a subcategory of Biology, being taught mainly at Zoology/ Psychology/ Ecology/ Agriculture Courses and at Medical Veterinary Schools, often as an eligible discipline. Ethology as a formal major Graduate Program is rare and mainly restricted to Brazil. Regular Ethology meetings are held in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. In Chile and Venezuela there is a small but very active community. Studies of animal behavior are often carried out in other areas than Biology, and there is a clear overlap of interest regarding the major topics of Ethology. Behavioral ecology, conservation, management and animal welfare are a priority in most countries, probably reflecting a general concern regarding endangered species and habitats of the continent. Here we present information aiming to create a network that will increase collaborations among researchers working within the ethological framework in Latin America. The IV Simpósio de Etologia na América Latina, entitled “Desarrollo de la Etología en Latinoamérica:¿ hacia un futuro regional ?” was held in November, 2013, as part of the XXXI Encontro Anual de Etologia (EAE), in São Paulo, SP, Brazil. The state of art of Animal Behavior in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay and Venezuela were presented there and a set of six questions guided the presentations: 1) What are the main Ethology topics being studied in laboratories in your country? - 2) Are there undergraduate or graduate programs in the main universities? - 3) Is there an Animal Behavior Society? How interested is the community in establishing close ties among institutes or laboratories elsewhere in Latin America? - 4) Is there a site, a journal, a page on a social networking site for contact, communication and divulgation of original data? - 5) How active is the community regarding the wiliness to organize congresses, symposia, meetings, workshops, on-line courses regarding Ethology? - 6) Are there funding agencies to support exchange programs and research in Ethology? Additional data were collected from the last two EAE regarding researchers from Latin America that attended EAE meetings and a list of names and laboratories was compiled (see appendix). It should be emphasized that the compilation of information presented here is far from complete. It represents a brief overview of the current status of Ethology in only five Latin American countries, and therefore it should be updated continuously with new data from the countries treated here as well as supplemented with data from other countries. Such a constantly updated list would facilitate the creation of networks that should increase collaborations among researchers working within the ethological framework in Latin America.

Estado Actual de la Arqueozoología Latinoamericana-Current Advances for the Latin-American Archaeozoology, 2010

El International Council for Archaeozoology (ICAZ) promueve la organización pluralista y transdisciplinaria, al reunir a arqueólogos, biólogos, paleontólogos, veterinarios, entre otros especialistas de todo el mundo, cuyo objeto de estudio es la relación entre la sociedad humana y los animales a través del tiempo. En Latinoamérica este tipo de estudios han alcanzado un desarrollo muy notorio en las última décadas.

2017

Fil: Paglione, Horacio Armando. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de San Martin; Argentina

ABSTRACTS Paleopathology Association Meeting in South America, Bolivia 2023, 2024

special supllement at the International Journal of Paleopathology.

The Korean journal of parasitology, 2016

The review article presents some of the history of how paleoparasitology started in Brazil, making highlight the great responsible Dr. Luiz Fernando Ferreira and Dr. Adauto Araújo, the trajectory of paleoparasitology in Brazil since 1978 and its performance in science to the present day. In sequence, it is made a presentation of parasitological findings on human remains found in archaeological sites in South America, highlighting Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and Peru, where major discoveries have occurred. Many of the parasites found in archaeological material and mentioned in this review went out of Africa with the peopling of Europe and from there they dispersed around the world, where climatic conditions allow the transmission. However, humans have acquired other parasites of animals, since humans invaded new habitats or creating new habits adopting new technologies, thus expanding its range of influence on the environment. Thus, this review article is finalized with information tha...

2013

The analysis of 119 skeletons excavated from 60 tombs of the Middle Horizon-Wari in Huaca Pucllana (Lima) between 2005 and 2010, allowed observation of some of the most frequent perimortem injuries on those remains. The analysis included the sex and age determination as well as the observation of the type and amount of perimortem lesions by every corporal segment affected. This information was contrasted with the field information which permitted us to distinguish the relation between multiple / individual burials and the type of injuries found on each body. Even though most of the bodies did not show any evidence of perimortem injury or these were not observable, and when they were present, there was a prevalence of blunt force trauma to the head or sharp trauma to the rest of the body, while in a few bodies, both kinds of lesions were evident. Together, blunt trauma and sharp injuries may be related in a few cases to ritual violence, possibly the sacrifice of children who were buried as part of the fill of the tombs, while in other cases the injuries were related to some form of interpersonal violence. It was possible to deduce a relationship between multiple burials and sacrificed individuals and individual or double burials to interpersonal violence; however it is important to consider that not all the perimortem injuries are necessarily an indicator for sacrifice or interpersonal violence. Only the analysis of the contextual information including the one coming from the burial, the skeleton, such as age, sex as well as the type, frequency and distribution of the perimortem lesions that may be present throughout the body, can make it possible to see the difference between the these two phenomena.

Abstract This article gives an account of the current status of ethnobiology in Ecuador. Our goal is a generalized diagnosis of Latin America’s ethnobiological research production, which portrays Ecuadorian ethnobiology as practically non‐existent. We perform an updated search of online databases, using a range of keywords, to show that elements of an ethnobiological research program are indeed present in Ecuadorian scholarship. While ethnobotany is the most developed sub‐discipline of ethnobiology in Ecuador, there is also research on ethnomedicine, ethnozoology, and, to a lesser extent, ethnomycology. The development of these sub‐disciplines promotes further ethnobiological scholarship in Ecuador. Beyond these sub‐ disciplines, ethnobiology is interwoven with contemporary anthropological accounts that emphasize the relationships between nature and culture and shine a light on the epistemic plurality of ethnobiology. If ethnobiology in Ecuador is distinguished by an epistemic plurality—understood through these different styles of reasoning—then it can be characterized without being confined to sub‐disciplines with the ethno‐ prefix. Received November 24, 2017 OPEN ACCESS Accepted April 24, 2018 DOI 10.14237/ebl.9.2.2018.1174 Keywords Ecuador, Ethnobotany, Anthropology, Epistemic plurality, Styles of reasoning

Este texto identifica un conjunto de ocho retos que enfrentan constantemente quienes trabajan en proyectos de conservación dentro o en la vecindad de territorios indígenas. El objetivo principal es motivar la discusión en el aula y en el campo sobre diversas situaciones éticas, legales, de perspectiva histórica, ecológicas, metodológicas y políticas que se dan cuando los conservacionistas modernos trabajan con pueblos indígenas en programas ambientales.

Historic sources have been used as a methodological resource in archaeology since the end of the 19th century in Pampa and Patagonia. Although they have been initially used as a source for testing hypotheses, or as an inductive tool to focus archaeological research, the use of historic records remains one of the basic tools in a number of theoretical schools in contemporary archaeology. There is not, however, a general consensus on how to use them. In this paper, we analyse the historical distributions of some mammals in the southern area of South America, as recorded in 16th century chronicles. We compare them with the evidence provided by contemporary zoogeographical and zooarchaeological studies. In this particular case, we will try to evaluate the potential of using historical sources as a source of testing. Furthermore, we are using some data from historical sources that suggest the exchange of skins of a non-specified taxon among the different ethnographic groups in the Pampa region. The results suggest that the degree of verification of the historical documents is not adequate to be used as a testing tool. Their main importance lies in their potential to generate epistemologically relevant hypotheses and propositions.

Annals of Human Biology, 2016