Osteobiographical profile of a Chichimeca burial: Mesa de Salsipuedes, San Luís Potosí, México

Abstract

The northern border of Mesoamerica, fluctuating in time, was the scene of contact between the hunter-gatherer population of Northern Mexico and their neighboring Mesoamerican farmers. Osteological information suggests a physical contrast between both groups of settlers. The discovery of a human burial of Chichimeca affiliation, in a cave in the Mesa Salsipuedes, in the Tierra Nueva municipality, San Luis Potosi, allows an approach to the osteobiographical profile of the hunter-gatherer dwellers in a bordering area of Mesoamerica. For this purpose, the cephalic morphology is examined in relation to the published data of preceramic specimens from the Basin of Mexico and of nomadic groups of the northern zone, as well as a postclassic cranial series from central Mexico.

  This information intends to be a contribution to broaden our know-ledge of the hunter-gatherer groups of this region, scarcely documen-
ted in the field of physical anthropology, and to contribute elements around the great problem of the gestation of the physical diversity of the ancient inhabitants of the current Mexican territory.