Human Skeletal Remains from Sabana De Bogotá, Colombia
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AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 133:1080–1098 (2007) Human Skeletal Remains From Sabana de Bogota´, Colombia: A Case of Paleoamerican Morphology Late Survival in South America? Walter A. Neves,1* Mark Hubbe,2 and Gonzalo Correal3 1Laborato´rio de Estudos Evolutivos Humanos, Departamento de Gene´tica e Biologia Evolutiva, Instituto de Biocieˆncias, Universidade de Sa˜o Paulo, C.P. 11461, 05422.970 Sa˜o Paulo, Brazil 2Instituto de Investigaciones Arqueolo´gicas Y Museo, Universidad Catolica del Norte, San Pedro de Atacama, Chile 3Museo de Historia Natural, Universidad Nacional de Coloˆmbia, Bogota´, Coloˆmbia KEY WORDS paleoindians; cranial morphology; morphometric analyses; multivariate analyses ABSTRACT Human skeletal remains of the first nial variation by different multivariate techniques: Prin- Americans are scarce, especially in North America. In cipal Components Analysis, Multidimensional Scaling, South America the situation is less dramatic. Two impor- and Cluster of Mahalanobis distance matrices. The tant archaeological regions have generated important col- Colombian skeletal remains were divided in two chrono- lections that allow the analysis of the cranial morphologi- logical subgroups: Paleocolombians (11.0–6.0 kyr) and Ar- cal variation of the Early Americans: Lagoa Santa, Bra- chaic Colombians (5.0–3.0 kyr). Both quantitative tech- zil, and Sabana de Bogota´, Colombia. Human crania from niques generated convergent results: the Paleocolombians the former region have been studied by one of us (WAN) show remarkable similarities with Lagoa Santa and with and collaborators, showing that the cranial morphology modern Australo-Melanesians. Archaic Colombians of the first South Americans was very different from that exhibited the same morphological patterns and associa- prevailing today in East Asia and among Native Ameri- tions. These findings support our long-held proposition cans. These results have allowed for proposing that the that the early American settlement may have involved New World may have been colonized by two different bio- two very distinct biological populations coming from logical populations in the final Pleistocene/early Holo- Asia. On the other hand, they suggest the possibility of cene. In this study, 74 human skulls dated between 11.0 late survivals of the Paleoamerican pattern not restricted and 3.0 kyr, recovered in seven different sites of Sabana to isolated or marginal areas, as previously thought. Am J de Bogota´, Colombia, were compared with the world cra- Phys Anthropol 133:1080–1098, 2007. VC 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc. Until recently, the initial occupation of the New World the initial studies of the DNA of present day Native was considered a very straight-forward scenario: Humans Americans. The results were especially conflicting when arrived in the Americas no earlier than 11.4 kyr; pioneer time of entry and number of migrations were estimated subsistence was solely based on specialized hunting (Schurr, 2004; Zegura et al., 2004). of megafauna; all lithic industries were derived from Clo- Based mostly on mtDNA and the Y chromosome, mo- vis; all migrants departed from Siberia; and only one lecular biologists have suggested from one to as many as major human biological stock was involved in the process. four discrete migrations to explain the genetic variation However, several findings in archaeology and physical existing today in the New World. As to time of entry, anthropology over the last two decades have significantly dates as different as 12 and 35 kyr have been proposed. challenged this scenario. The existence of human cul- In the last 5 years, however, molecular biologists have tural remains slightly older than or at least as old as tended to support a small number of migrations (1 or 2) Clovis in South America is now widely accepted by the and times of entry more compatible with the archaeologi- international archaeological community (see Roosevelt et cal findings (Bonatto and Salzano, 1997; Schurr, 2004; al., 1996; Dillehay, 1997; and Kipnis, 1998 for the best but see Pereira et al., 2005 for an exception). They also examples). The diet of the first South Americans was based on small and medium animals, complemented by a vast array of plant items, instead of megafauna (Prous, Grant sponsor: FAPESP (Fundac¸a˜o de Amparo a` Pesquisa do 1991; Roosevelt et al., 1996; Neves and Cornero, 1997; Estado de Sa˜o Paulo); Grant numbers: 99/00670-7, 04/01321-6; Grant Kipnis, 1998, 2002; Piperno and Pearsall, 1998; Neves et sponsor: CNPq: 305918/53. al., 2004). The first lithic industries of South America *Correspondence to: Walter Alves Neves, Laborato´rio de Estudos were highly diversified, and most of them exhibited no Evolutivos Humanos, Departamento de Gene´tica e Biologia Evolu- direct relationship with Clovis (Bate, 1990; Politis, 1993; tiva, Instituto de Biocieˆncias, Universidade de Sa˜o Paulo, C.P. Borrero et al., 1998; Dillehay, 2000). 11461, 05422.970 Sa˜o Paulo, Brazil. E-mail: [email protected] During this same period, molecular biology has also contributed vividly to the general discussion of who the Received 22 May 2006; accepted 7 March 2007 first Americans were and when they arrived in the New World (see Schurr, 2004; and Zegura et al., 2004 for a DOI 10.1002/ajpa.20637 review). However, even a brief survey of the literature Published online 6 June 2007 in Wiley InterScience shows that very conflicting results were generated by (www.interscience.wiley.com). VC 2007 WILEY-LISS, INC. HUMAN SKELETAL REMAINS FROM SABANA DE BOGOTA´ 1081 agree that all lineages found in the Americas are clearly phology was abrupt below the equator, and no late sam- represented in the populations living today in Northeast- ple is known so far to exhibit the Paleoamerican pattern. ern Asia. However, a cautionary note is needed here. In both stud- The study of the skeletal biology of the first South, ies mentioned, most of the craniometric data was Central, and North Americans, but especially of the obtained from the literature, and several areas of South South Americans, also contributed significantly in the America were not covered. Most of the interior of South last 15 years to make the scenario of the early New America is characterized by very acidic soils, and conse- World settlement more complex than had been previ- quently, preservation of human remains is scant in vast ously thought. Neves and Pucciarelli (1989, 1990, 1991), areas of the subcontinent. Furthermore, samples were and several later contributions based on a series of sam- small in general, mainly in the case of Paleoamericans, ples recovered from different sites in South and Central in both studies. America, especially from Lagoa Santa (Neves and Puc- In fact, the scenario may be much more complex than ciarelli, 1989, 1990, 1991; Neves et al., 1998, 2003, 2004, that envisaged by Neves and collaborators in the begin- 2007; Gonza´lez-Jose´ et al., 2005; Neves and Hubbe, ning of the 1990s. Lahr (1995), for instance, has sug- 2005) have called the attention to the astonishing mor- gested that Fuegians could represent a late survival of a phological diversity in the Americas when the first set- generalized morphology in the tip of South America, tlers are considered. since their cranial morphological pattern does not show It is now known that the cranial morphology of the first a complete resemblance with that prevailing today in humans who entered the continent was very different Northeastern Asia. More recently, Gonza´lez-Jose´ et al. from the pattern prevailing in later times and currently (2003) have demonstrated that at least in another in the Americas and East Asia.1 These findings suggest remote isolated area of the Americas, the tip of Baja Cal- that the New World may have been colonized by two very ifornia, the pristine Paleoamerican cranial pattern sur- different biological populations, both coming from Asia: vived until the arrival of Spaniards in the region by one exhibiting a cranial morphology more similar to that ships in the 16th century. Accordingly, the understand- of the first modern humans and still maintained in Afri- ing of the paradox posed by information coming from cans and Australo-Melanesians today (Lahr, 1995), and morphological and molecular markers could benefit sub- another exhibiting a very distinct morphology (known as stantially from an assessment of morphological change Mongoloid in the classic literature). Similar analyses of through time in several regions of South America (and the few ancient human skulls available in North America eventually Central and North Americas). have also suggested a dual occupation, although not as However, few areas in South America allow for the clear as in Central and South America (Powell, 1995; study of cranial differentiation through time. Human Brace et al., 2001; Jantz and Owsley, 2001). remains of great antiquity (from the Paleoindian hori- If the Americas were settled by two very distinct zon) are rarely found, and in the few regions where they human populations, what happened to the Paleoameri- are found in significant numbers, comprehensive assess- cans? This is a crucial question because from the point ments of morphological changes in time cannot be car- of view of molecular biology, as mentioned before, pres- ried out because archaic and late human skeletons are ent Native Americans are very homogeneous in terms of lacking. This is the case of Lagoa Santa, in Brazil. While haplogroups (four haplogroups are shared by all present early human skeletons abound in the region (Neves and Native Americans, and a fifth one by all North American Hubbe, 2005), archaic and late specimens are almost groups), and these haplogroups coalesce in only one nonexistent. The region seems to have been mostly aban- mother population in East Asia, by the very end of the doned by humans from 7.5 to 2.5 kyr due to dry climatic Pleistocene (Schurr, 2004). conditions (Araujo et al., 2005).