The dentition of the Lengua Indians of Paraguay

The crown morphology of 202 dental casts from living Lengua Indians is described and compared with other Amerind, Melanesian, and Caucasoid samples. The Lengua dentition shows a high Mongoloid component with little effects of possible European admixture, thus supporting the theory that despite early Franciscan and Jesuit attempts at missionization, much of the Paraguayan Chaco has remained genetically and culturally relatively intact well into the present century. A finding of note was the apparent sexual dimorphism of the Carabelli cusp, which questions earlier assumptions that no correction for sex need be made in population studies when dealing with this trait. Since mandibular canines show proportionately less wear in the canine distal accessory ridge area than maxillary canines, the value of the incidence of this trait in population and microevolutionary studies is questioned.     

Differences in physical growth of Aymara and Quechua children living at high altitude in Peru

Physical growth of Amerindian children living in two Aymara and three Quechua peasant communities in the Andean highlands of southern Peru (altitude 3,810–3,840 m) was studied, taking into account differences in the microclimate, agronomic situation, and sociodemographic variables. Anthropometric measurements were taken in 395 children aged under 14 years of age in a sample of 151 families in these communities, who were surveyed for sociodemographic variables as well. Data on the land system were available for 77 families. In comparison with reference populations from the United States (NCHS) and The Netherlands, stature, weight, head circumference, and midupper arm circumference (but not weight for stature) in the sample children were reduced. Growth retardation increased after the age of 1 year. Stature and weight in the present sample were very similar compared with previously published data on growth of rural Aymara children living near Lake Titicaca in Bolivia. Head circumference, midupper arm circumference, and weight for stature were significantly larger in Aymara children compared with Quechua children. Land was significantly more fragmented in Aymara compared with Quechua families, but amount of land owned was not different. Perinatal and infant mortality was elevated in Aymara vs. Quechua communities. Most families in Aymara communities used protected drinking water. One Quechua community had a severe microclimate, grim economic outlook, and weak social cohesion. Children in this community showed significant reductions in weight and midupper arm circumference compared with their peers in the other communities. We conclude that (presumably nutritionally mediated) intervillage and Aymara-Quechua differences in childhood physical growth existed in this rural high-altitude population in Peru and were associated with microclimate and the village economy, sociodemographic factors, and differences in the land system. © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Differences among Yanomama Indian villages: Do the patterns of allele frequencies,anthropometrics and map locations correspond?

In order to determine the degree of correspondence between sets of multivariate observations based on different kinds of traits, two new methods, derived from fundamentally different notions of “correspondence,” are adopted here and compared. Using networks or trees to represent contemporary relationships, the first method tests the similarity of the cluster or hierarchic structures implicit in two sets of data. The second approach tests the departure from perfect geometric congruence or superimposability. Computer simulation was used to generate the distributions needed for significance tests under the null hypothesis. By the first technique, we find significant correspondence among the cluster structures for geographic, allele frequency, and anthropometric data on 19 Yanomama Indian villages. The results are similar and more precise for a subset consisting of seven villages. Some of these results differ from the conclusions which would be reached with the conventional correlations based upon entries in distance tables. The direct test of congruence, used only for the data on the subset of seven villages, gives results which differ substantially from those based on cluster-structure. There are, however, similarities between the measure of congruence and the simple correlations based on entries in the distance tables. The significant correspondences observed call for some explanation. Cultural and demographic features determine the particular non-random allocation of individuals to village fragments when a village splits. These social phenomena are invoked in tentative explanation of the agreement among historical, biological, and geographic relationships of villages.     

Demography and blood genetics of Argentinian Mapuche Indians

The whole Mapuche Indian community of Blancura Centro was covered by a demographic census, with special attention given to variables of genetic interest. Afterwards a sample of it was investigated in relation to 22 genetic systems. The community can be characterized as a young group, with high fertility, but moderate mortality and endogamy. The index of opportunity for selection is relatively low (0.46). The presence of variation at the ABO and Lutheran loci suggests some non-Indian admixture, calculated as 7% in the sample studied. Unusual findings were the absence of L^*NS, low frequency (7%) of L^*MS and high frequency (37%) of L^*Ns. They also showed low frequencies of P^*1 (28%) and DI^*a (3%), but high of HP^*1 (74%). Similarities, but also differences, were noted with previous results obtained in this tribe in Argentina and Chile.     

Class I HLA antigens in two long-separated populations: Melanesians and South Amerinds

Class I HLA antigens have been compared in 5,835 Melanesians of Papua New Guinea and 2,028 Amerindians of South America. The sample includes 50 PNGMel ethnolinguistic groups and 22 SAmlnd groups. Both carry 15 serologically defined antigens and an undefined C allele. Except for A2 in Papua New Guinea and Cwl in South America, these antigens are widely distributed in their respective populations. Nine (A2 and A24, B39, B60 and B62, and Cwl, Cw3, Cw4, and Cw7) are common to both. This commonality suggests that these two populations derive from an ancestral population with less polymorphism than modern East Asians. In both populations several theoretically possible haplotypes were absent, and other haplo-types were in positive disequilibrium in both. The parallels in disequilibria suggest that haplotypes are subject to selective forces acting on the level of allelic interaction. Based on three locus haplotype frequencies, the PNGMel groups form five clusters with internally typical linguistic and geographic characteristics and a miscellaneous category, but Samlnd groups show no cluster. © 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Changing Patterns of Infant Mortality and Maternal Fertility among Pumé Foragers and Horticulturalists

National census data show that the modern demographic transition—the recent trend toward declining mortality and fertility—is well underway in most countries. A different picture emerges when data from small-scale societies in unindustrialized parts of the world are considered. Many of these small-scale societies are also adapting to rapid changes in their subsistence economies. In this article, we examine the relationship between the pace of acculturation, infant mortality, and fertility levels among Pumé foragers and horticulturalists, two related groups of native South Americans. During the earliest stages of acculturation, Pumé horticulturalists experience not only a rapid drop in infant mortality but also a rise in birth rates. An anthropological view of demographic transitions provides important insight into how small-scale societies are affected by exposure to the labor market economy and has practical applications to effective development initiatives and public health policies.     

Gm haplotype distribution in Amerindians: Relationship with geography and language

A review is made of the Gm haplotype distribution in 60 groups of Eskimos, North, Central and South American Indians, totaling 22,808 individuals. Differences were observed in the shapes of the distribution of Gm*ag and the other markers. Nearly identical values for F_ST and average heterozygosities were obtained in the North+Central/South comparisons. North-South and Southwest/Northeast clinal differences were observed in the Americas using correspondence factorial analysis. The two haplotypes mainly responsible for these differences are Gm*axg and Gm*abOst. When the populations are classified by language groups, besides the recognized differences between Eskimos and Athabaskan (Na-Dene) speakers compared with Amerinds, others are found. For instance, Uto-Aztecan speakers of the United States and Mexico differ in Gm frequencies from the Nuclear Chibchan, Macro-Arawak, and Carib speakers of Central and South America. The notion of a homogeneous Amerind genetic pool does not conform with these and other results. © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Blood group, serum protein and red cell enzyme groups of Amerindian populations in Colombia

Red cell samples from persons belonging to four Amerindian linguistic groups in Colombia were investigated for genetic variants in eight blood group systems: for three of the groups investigations were extended to ten red cell enzyme and four serum protein systems. The groups studied are the Noanama (including six Empera) of the Rio Siquirisua and Rio Docampado on the Pacific lowlands and the Cofan, Ingano and Siona Indians of the Upper Rio Putumayo and its tributaries to the east of the Andes. Only blood group O was present among two of the groups and the same groups were 100% Kp(b +), k in the Kell system. Di(a +) frequencies were high in three groups and there was marked variation between groups for the MNS, Rh, P, Lewis and Duffy systems. Polymorphism in all the three linguistic groups studied for serum proteins and red cell enzymes was present only in the red cell acid phosphatase, phosphoglucomutase (locus-1) and haptoglobin systems. 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase was polymorphic in the Noanama, and caeruloplasmin was polymorphic in the Ingano linguistic group. In addition two persons belonging to the Cofan linguistic group revealed the presence of an “atypical” component in the lactate dehydrogenase system. No variation was found in the other six red cell enzyme and two serum protein systems. Comparison with published data on red cell enzyme and serum protein groups for other South American Amerindian populations shows the Colombian populations studied here most closely resemble the Cayapo of Brazil.     

On the estimation of some demographic characteristics on a prehistoric population from the American Southwest

After a general discussion of some of the limitations and assumptions inherent in paleodemographic studies, a method for the estimation of average life expectancy when only deaths by age are known is described and applied to the remains from Point of Pines, a prehistoric Western Pueblo population from the American Southwest. It was found that the method was not applicable to these data in its entirety, since there were considerable differences in mortality shapes between this prehistoric group and those summarized in the U. N. Model Life Tables. It is suggested that a range of average life expectancy can be calculated when the intrinsic rates of natural increase vary, and these are given for the Point of Pines data.     

Village division in lowland South America: The case of the Bakairí Indians of central Brazil

A Brazilian Indian village divided into several settlements during the 1980s. In this article, the political ecology approach is used to account for the process whereby this occurred. Data on ecology, subsistence practices, demography, and regional dynamics are presented. Analysis of results explores the articulation between shifts in population levels both in the region and in the Indian reservation, on one hand, with environmental stresses on reservation resources. The effects on national economic development programs on the regional and local levels are also discussed. The relationship between these policies and programs, on one hand, and alterations in local production systems are made explicit.     

Variation in Swidden practices in four central Brazilian Indian societies

It has been suggested that indigenous tropical forest agriculture, in contrast with other agricultural systems, is characterized by a high degree of polyculture, and, being similar in diversity to the forest itself, has little disturbing effect on the generalized ecosystem that surrounds native gardens. Our comparative study of four Central Brazilian Indian groups shows, however, that while each of these groups practices polyculture to some extent, the crop mix found in their swidden plots is highly patterned, and includes single crop stands at certain stages of garden life. Different crops are planted in the same swidden plot from year to year, in accordance with variation in soil fertility within the swidden cycle. None of the swiddens we observed compares in complexity to the surrounding forest. We suggest that polyculture, rather than being regarded as the distinguishing characteristic of swidden cultivation, should be considered as a varying dimension—along with other variables such as use of wild plants, soil fertility and exhaustion, tillage practices, the introduction of novel crops, and production for the market—within the overall subsistence strategy of a group.     

Cranial injuries as evidence of violence in prehistoric southern California

Crania from the Channel Island area of southern California were examined for evidence of traumatic injuries. Well-healed depressed fractures in the outer table of the cranial vault are common in skeletal remains from the northern Channel Islands (18.56% n = 598) but rare in those from the mainland coast (7.5% n = 146). This prevalence of traumatic injuries among the islanders may be a result of intense competition over resources in a geographically circumscribed environment. The frequency of cranial injuries increases significantly between the early and late prehistoric periods on the Channel Islands. This temporal variation appears to reflect changes in patterns of violence associated with population growth and environmental instability.     

Failure of linguistic relationships to predict genetic distances between the Waiãpi and other tribes of lower Amazonia

Data on blood group, serum protein, erythrocyte enzyme, and histocompatibility antigen (HLA) traits are presented for the Waiãpi, a Tupispeaking tribe of the Brazilian and French Guianas. Intra- and intertribal comparisons have been made between these data, and previously published data from French Guiana, from another Tupi tribe and from other tribes of neighboring areas, and from the continent as a whole. For this purpose, we have modified the usual measure of genetic distance to obtain a value which is independent of the number of loci being considered. The intertribal genetic distances do not correlate with linguistic affinity. Social differences, which may have affected the rate of drift from the continental mean, correlate better with genetic distances.