Arqueologia e história indígena no Pantanal

O artigo apresenta uma síntese dos dados arqueológicos sobre o Pantanal e o seu entorno, principalmente em Mato Grosso e Mato Grosso do Sul. Elaborado com base na noção de arqueologia como história indígena de longa duração, o artigo considera as trajetórias de estabelecimento e consolidação territorial da ocupação indígena regional, os processos de formação da configuração etnográfica encontrada pelos europeus e os impactos do colonialismo. O principal objetivo consiste em mostrar que a diversidade cultural característica do cenário etnográfico pantaneiro está associada à dinâmica histórica e cultural da ocupação indígena desde períodos anteriores à chegada dos conquistadores e colonizadores de origem europeia.The article presents an overview of the archaeological data on the Pantanal and its surrounding areas, mainly in Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul. Prepared based on the notion of archeology as long term indigenous history, the article considers the trajectories of territorial establishment and consolidation of the regional indigenous occupation, the formation processes of ethnographic setting found by Europeans and the impact of colonialism. The main objective is to show that cultural diversity characteristic of the Pantanal ethnographic scenario is associated with historical and cultural dynamics of indigenous occupation from periods prior to the arrival of the conquistadors and settlers of European origin

Postcranial morphological variation between hunter‐gatherers and horticulturalists from the lower Paraná River Delta, Argentina

Introduction: Although pre-Hispanic hunter-gatherer and horticulturalist (known as Guaraní) societies from the lower Paraná River Delta (Argentina) presented differences in diet, pottery decoration, mortuary practices, and places of origin, differences in skeletal morphology between such groups have never been systematically explored. This work focuses on variations in humeral and femoral external linear measurements and derived structural properties of adult individuals from both societies as well as on variations in body mass and stature. Materials and Methods: Bone length, epiphyseal size, and midshaft breadth were measured in 82 adult humeri and 100 femora from hunter-gatherer and Guaraní archeological sites. Epiphyseal and midshaft robusticity, residual strength, midshaft shape and area, stature, and body mass were then estimated. Mann–Whitney tests were run to compare the hunter-gatherer and Guaraní samples. Results: Male Guaraní individuals presented stronger humeri and more robust femoral and humeral proximal epiphyses than hunter-gatherers. In addition, female Guaraní individuals showed rounder femoral diaphyses in comparison with female hunter-gatherers. Concerning stature, the Guaraní individuals were found to be shorter than hunter-gatherers, regardless of sex. No statistical differences were found in body mass. Discussion: Despite the fact that skeletal variations between Guaraní and hunter-gatherers could be a consequence of differences in mechanical loadings and genetic composition, bone robusticity is also positively correlated with increased age, but as the age composition of the Guaraní sample could not be estimated, skeletal variation between the samples could be a consequence of differences in age distribution.Fil: Mazza, Bárbara Pamela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Secretaría de Cultura de la Nación. Dirección Nacional de Cultura y Museos. Instituto Nacional de Antropología y Pensamiento Latinoamericano; Argentin

Correlations between long inverted repeat (LIR) features, deletion size and distance from breakpoint in human gross gene deletions

Long inverted repeats (LIRs) have been shown to induce genomic deletions in yeast. In this study, LIRs were investigated within ±10 kb spanning each breakpoint from 109 human gross deletions, using Inverted Repeat Finder (IRF) software. LIR number was significantly higher at the breakpoint regions, than in control segments (P < 0.001). In addition, it was found that strong correlation between 5′ and 3′ LIR numbers, suggesting contribution to DNA sequence evolution (r = 0.85, P < 0.001). 138 LIR features at ±3 kb breakpoints in 89 (81%) of 109 gross deletions were evaluated. Significant correlations were found between distance from breakpoint and loop length (r = −0.18, P < 0.05) and stem length (r = −0.18, P < 0.05), suggesting DNA strands are potentially broken in locations closer to bigger LIRs. In addition, bigger loops cause larger deletions (r = 0.19, P < 0.05). Moreover, loop length (r = 0.29, P < 0.02) and identity between stem copies (r = 0.30, P < 0.05) of 3′ LIRs were more important in larger deletions. Consequently, DNA breaks may form via LIR-induced cruciform structure during replication. DNA ends may be later repaired by non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ), with following deletion