ESTUDIO DE LAS AFINIDADES DE LOS PUEBLOS NATIVOS DE CHUBUT (ARGENTINA), BASADO EN CARACTERES MÉTRICOS CRANEANOS

Abstract

Human skeletal remains of 198 adult individuals of both sexes were used todetermine the range of biological variaton and affinities. All the material came from prehistoric burial sites in the present territory of the province of Chubut. The age and probable gender was determined for each specimen and the presence of artificial plastic deformation was analysed. The skulls were described using 43 metric variables in order to address the similarities and differences, applying multivariate analysis using distance coefficients. The contribution of each variable to the total variation was appraised using principal component analysis. Thus, two groups were isolated. Intragroup variation was analysed in relation to gender and artificial defrormation. Mean values and standard deviations were calculated for deformed and nondeformed individuals in each sex group. The results show that intragroup variation is more closely related to deformation than to sexual dimorphism, while intergroup differences are related to size differences. These results provide a bottom line for discussions about the population history of Chubut and the microevolutionary processes involved.