Los hombres de Neandertal

Al hombre de Neandertal se lo identificó con este nombre por dos motivos; primero, porque su apariencia fue indudablemente humana y, segundo, porque el primer hallazgo consistió en los restos de un esqueleto exhumado hacia 1856 por Fuhlrott y Schaaffhausen en la gruta de Feldhofer, ubicada en el valle de Neander, cerca de Dusseldorf (Alemania). En la década de 1870, la porción superior del cráneo fragmentado fue estudiada, entre otros, por el renombrado médico y antropólogo prusiano RC Virchow quien consideró que se trataba de un caso aberrante, perteneciente a un individuo que padeció raquitismo. Nuevos descubrimientos de fósiles neandertal dieron por tierra con la hipótesis de Virchow, pues no resultaba lógica la alta proporción de hombres ‘aberrantes’ sobre un total no muy numeroso de fósiles descubiertos.Fil: Pucciarelli, Hector Mario. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentin

Effect of intergenerational chronic undernutrition on ponderal, and linear growth

The aim of this paper was to analyze if intergenerational undernutrition causes growth retardation in weight and body length in two generations of rats and, if so, to assess whether the delay is cumulative. Male and female rats were assigned to one of the following groups: (1) control: they were fed ad libitum and constituted the parental generation (P), and (2) undernourished generations (F1 and F2): they were fed on 75% of the control diet. Animals were weighed and X-rayed every ten days from 20 to 100 days old in order to measure total body length. Also, body mass index was calculated. Data were processed by ANOVA and LSD post hoc tests. Impairment in weight, body length, and body mass index was found in both generations; nevertheless growth retardation was greater in F2, indicating a cumulative effect of nutritional stress. Sex differences were found, since the cumulative effect of generational undernutrition was greater and earlier in males than in females. It is concluded that when the undernutrition acts with constant intensity during several generations, the growth retardation is cumulative, indicating a negative secular trend.Fil: Cesani Rossi, María Florencia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico la Plata. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria "ingeniero Fernando Noel Dulout"; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias; ArgentinaFil: Oyhenart, Evelia Edith. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico la Plata. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria "ingeniero Fernando Noel Dulout"; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias; ArgentinaFil: Pucciarelli, Hector Mario. Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo; Argentin

Las momias egipcias del Museo de La Plata: Estudios recientes

Presentamos en esta oportunidad un breve resumen de los estudios emprendidos en los últimos años sobre las tres momias conservadas en la División Antropología del Museo de La Plata, cuyo arribo a la misma data del siglo XIX. Dos de ellas, con sus ataúdes decorados, fueron donadas por Dardo Rocha, quien las había obtenido en Egipto en 1888. La tercera procede probablemente de la colección de Luis A. Viglione, reunida en 1889. Las mismas fueron publicadas por primera vez en 1927 por M. de Barrio , tomando como punto de partida las anotaciones realizadas por Alexandre Moret en su visita al Museo en 1925...Fil: Santos, Diego Maximiliano. Centro de Estudios del Egipto y del Mediterráneo Oriental; ArgentinaFil: Pucciarelli, Hector Mario. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Antropología; ArgentinaFil: Daizo, María Belén. Centro de Estudios del Egipto y del Mediterráneo Oriental; ArgentinaFil: Abramzon, Fernando. Municipalidad de Malvinas Argentinas (buenos Aires). Hospital Municipal de Trauma y Emergencias Doctor Federico Abete.; ArgentinaFil: Lesyk, Sonia A.. Municipalidad de Malvinas Argentinas (buenos Aires). Hospital Municipal de Trauma y Emergencias Doctor Federico Abete.; Argentin

The role of diet and temperature in shaping cranial diversification of South American human populations: An approach based on spatial regression and divergence rate tests

Aim- Understanding the importance of ecological factors in the origin and maintenance of patterns of phenotypic variation among populations, in an explicit geographical context, is one of the main goals of human biology, ecology and evolutionary biology. Here we study the ecological factors responsible for craniofacial variation among human populations from South America.Location- South America.Methods- We studied a dataset of 718 males from 40 South American populations, coming from groups that inhabited different geographical and ecological regions. Cranial size and shape variation were studied using 30 cranial measurements. We first used spatial correlograms and interpolated maps to address spatial patterns. We then regressed the shape (principal component scores) and size variables against ecology (mean annual temperature and diet) using multiple and multivariate spatial regression. Finally, the expected magnitudes of shape and size divergence under the influence of genetic drift and mutations alone were evaluated using neutral expectation for the divergence rate.Results- The spatial correlograms showed a cline affecting the entire South American distribution. Interpolated maps showed that size and allometric shape vary from south-east to north-west. Multiple and multivariate regression analyses suggested that diet has the largest and most significant effect on this pattern of size and allometric shape variation. Finally, the results of the divergence rate test suggested that random processes alone cannot account for the morphological divergence exhibited by cranial size and allometric shape scores among southernmost populations.Main conclusions- Correlograms, spatial regression and divergence rate analyses showed that although local factors (neutral processes or local environmental conditions) are important to explain spatial interpopulation differentiation in cranial characteristics among these populations, there is significant correlation of cranial size and allometric shape variation with diet. Gene flow among human populations, or local environmental conditions, could explain spatial variation mainly at smaller spatial scales, whereas the large-scale pattern of the South American dataset is mainly related to the high proportion of carbohydrates and low proportion of proteins consumed.Fil: Perez, Sergio Ivan. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Departamento Científico de Antropología; ArgentinaFil: Lema, Verónica. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Arqueología; ArgentinaFil: Diniz-Filho, José Alexandre Felizola. Universidade Federal de Goiás; BrasilFil: Bernal, Valeria. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Departamento Científico de Antropología; ArgentinaFil: Gonzalez, Paula Natalia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Departamento Científico de Antropología; ArgentinaFil: Gobbo, Juan Diego. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Arqueología; ArgentinaFil: Pucciarelli, Hector Mario. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Departamento Científico de Antropología; Argentin

Multiregional, not multiple origins

Multiregional evolution is a model to account for the pattern of human evolution in the Pleistocene. The underlying hypothesis is that a worldwide network of genic exchanges, between evolving human populations that continually divide and reticulate, provides a frame of population interconnections that allows both species-wide evolutionary change and local distinctions and differentiation. “Multiregional” does not mean independent multiple origins, ancient divergence of modern populations, simultaneous appearance of adaptive characters in different regions, or parallel evolution. A valid understanding of multiregional evolution would go a long way toward reducing the modern human origins controversy. Am J Phys Anthropol 112:129–136, 2000. © 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/34270/1/11_ftp.pd

Early Human Holocene Remains from the Argentinean Pampa: Additional Evidence for Distinctive Cranial Morphology of Early South Americans.

The cranial morphology of Early Holocene American human samples is characterized by a long and narrow cranial vault, whereas more recent samples exhibit a shorter and wider cranial vault. Two hypotheses have been proposed to account for the morphological differences between early and late-American samples: (a) the migratory hypothesis that suggests that the morphological variation between early and late American samples was the result of a variable number of migratory waves; and (b) the local diversification hypothesis, that is, the morphological differences between early and late American samples were mainly generated by local, random (genetic drift), and nonrandom factors (selection and phenotypic plasticity). We present the first craniometric study of three early skulls from the Argentinean Pampas, dated ∼8,000 cal. years BP (Arroyo Seco 2, Chocorí, and La Tigra), and one associated with megafaunal remains (Fontezuelas skull). In addition, we studied several Late Holocene samples. We show that the skulls from the Argentinean Pampas are morphologically similar to other Early Holocene American skulls (i.e., Lagoa Santa from Brazil, Tequendama, Checua, and Aguazuque from Colombia, Lauricocha from Peru, and early Mexicans) that exhibit long and narrow cranial vaults. These samples differ from the Late Holocene American samples that exhibit a shorter and wider cranial vault. Our results underscore the important differences in cranial morphology between early and late-American samples. However, we emphasize the need for further studies to discuss alternative hypotheses regarding such differences.Fil: Pucciarelli, Hector Mario. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Antropología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Perez, Sergio Ivan. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Antropología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Politis, Gustavo Gabriel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tandil. Investigaciones Arqueológicas y Paleontológicas del Cuaternario Pampeano. Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Investigaciones Arqueológicas y Paleontológicas del Cuaternario Pampeano; Argentin

An ontogenetic approach to facial variation in three Native American populations

Se han formulado diferentes explicaciones sobre los altos niveles de variabilidad craneofacial que existen entre las poblaciones nativas de América, sin embargo, aun no se conoce cuál es la contribución de los procesos de desarrollo en el establecimiento de estos patrones de variación. En este estudio, comparamos la morfología facial en series ontogénicas de tres poblaciones sudamericanas, una de cazadores-recolectores junto con dos grupos de agricultores, con el fin de poner a prueba la hipótesis según la cual los patrones de diferenciación entre poblaciones no cambian a lo largo de la ontogenia. Si los factores relacionados con la dieta contribuyen al establecimiento de la morfología facial, es esperable hallar una mayor diferenciación entre cazadoresrecolectores y los otros dos grupos que entre los dos grupos de agricultores y esta variación debería profundizarse con la edad, especialmente en aquellas estructuras faciales influenciadas por las fuerzas masticatorias. De acuerdo con nuestros resultados, los cazadores-recolectores difieren claramente de los agricultores. Algunos factores no hereditarios asociados a la dieta, tales como el contenido nutricional de la misma, pueden llevar a un incremento de la diferenciación a lo largo de la ontogenia en algunos casos. Sin embargo, como los cazadores-recolectores están claramente separados desde etapas tempranas de la vida postnatal, una parte importante de la variación en tamano no reflejaría cambios ecosen- ˜ sitivos. Consecuentemente, la hipótesis no puede ser rechazada en forma completa.Various explanations have been formulated regarding high levels of craniofacial variation among Native American populations but the contribution of developmental processes to the establishment of these patterns of variation remains unknown. In this study, we compare facial morphology in ontogenetic series of three Native South American populations, one hunter-gatherer group and two farmer groups, in order to test the null hypothesis that indicates that the pattern of facial differentiation between populations does not change during ontogeny. If diet-related factors contribute to outline facial morphology, it is likely to find greater differences between hunter-gatherer and both farmer groups than between two groups of farmers and this differentiation is expected to increase with age, especially in those structures that are influenced by the mechanical load of mastication. According to our results, hunter-gatherers clearly differ from the two groups of farmers. Non-heritable factors linked to diet, such as nutritional content of food, may increase differentiation across ontogeny in some cases. However, as hunter-gatherers were clearly separated from farmer populations during entire postnatal ontogeny, an important proportion of size variation may not necessarily reflect eco-sensitive changes. Consequently, the hypothesis cannot be completely rejected.Fil: Barbeito Andrés, Jimena. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Cienicas Naturales y Museo. División Antropología; ArgentinaFil: Pucciarelli, Hector Mario. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Cienicas Naturales y Museo. División Antropología; ArgentinaFil: Sardi, Marina Laura. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Cienicas Naturales y Museo. División Antropología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentin

Cranial growth in normal and low-protein-fed Saimiri: An environmental heterochrony

Protein malnutrition has a significant and measurable effect on the rate and timing of growth. Heterochrony is generally viewed as the study of evolutionary changes in the relative rates and timing of growth and development. Although changes in growth commonly result from experimental manipulations of diet, nobody has previously attempted to explain such changes from a heterochronic perspective. We use a heterochronic perspective to compare a group of squirrel monkeys fed a low-protein diet to individuals on a high-protein diet, but, in contrast to previous works, we focus particularly on the effects of environmental and not genetic factors. In the present study, Gould´s (1977) and Godfrey and Sutherland´s (1996) methodologies for studying heterochrony, as well as geometric morphometrics, are used to compare two groups of Saimiri sciureus boliviensis. Two groups of Saimiri were constructed on the basis of the protein content in their diets: a high-protein group (HP) (N = 12) and a low-protein group (LP) (N = 12). All individuals are males born in captivity. Two major functional components of the skull, the neurocranium and the face, were analysed. Four minor components were studied in each major component. Comparison of craniofacial ontogeny patterns based on major and minor components suggests that changes in the skull of LP animals can be explained by heterochrony. The skull of LP animals exhibits isomorphism produced by proportioned dwarfism. Our results suggest that heterochrony can be environmentally, rather than exclusively genetically, induced. The study of genetic assimilation (Waddington, 1953, 1956; see Scharloo, 1991; Hallgrimsson et al., 2002) has demonstrated that environmentally induced phenotypes often have a genetic basis, and thus parallel changes can be easily induced genetically. It is possible that proportioned dwarfism is far more common than currently appreciated.Fil: Ramirez Rozzi, Fernando. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; Francia. Max-Planck-Institut für evolutionäre Anthropologie; AlemaniaFil: González José, Rolando. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Centro Nacional Patagónico; ArgentinaFil: Pucciarelli, Hector Mario. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Departamento Científico de Antropología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentin

A late period mummy from an egyptian non-elite cemetery, curated in buenos aires: 3d volumetric study

A Late Period Egyptian mummy from a non-elite cemetery, now housed in the collection of the Museo de La Plata in Buenos Aires, was imaged using multi-slice computed tomography (MSCT). The provisional conclusions of this study provide new insight about the mummification practices employed by the lower strata of the Egyptian society in the Late Period.Fil: Daizo, María Belén. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Antropología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Saavedra 15. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Historia y Ciencias Humanas; ArgentinaFil: Santos, Diego M.. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Antropología; ArgentinaFil: Abramzon, Fernando. Municipalidad de Malvinas Argentinas (buenos Aires). Hospital Municipal de Trauma y Emergencias Doctor Federico Abete.; ArgentinaFil: Lesyk, Sonia. Municipalidad de Malvinas Argentinas (buenos Aires). Hospital Municipal de Trauma y Emergencias Doctor Federico Abete.; ArgentinaFil: Pucciarelli, Hector Mario. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Antropología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentin