Abstract

PALOMA, Zárate; GONZALEZ, Claudina; TAVARONE, Aldana  and  FABRA, Mariana. Two generations, one burial: osteobiographical perspectives applied to Banda Meridional del Lago site, Embalse de Río Tercero, Córdoba, Argentina. Rev. Mus. Antropol. [online]. 2020, vol.13, n.3, pp.07-22. ISSN 1852-060X.  http://dx.doi.org/http://doi.org/10.31048/1852.4826.v13.n3.27932.

Abstract The aim of this article is to reconstruct, from an osteobiographical perspective, the life history of a woman who inhabited the mountainous region of Córdoba during the final late Holocene, considering two stages during her life, childhood and adulthood. From a social bioarchaeological perspective, it is interesting to “humanize the past”, combining bioarcheological and archaeological information with a fictional narrative story, an alternative form to the main genre of archaeological and bioarcheological writing. We conducted osteobiographical studies, including the determination of sex, estimation of age and laterality, and detected macro- and microscopic pathological lesions, as well as entesial and degenerative changes. Isotopic (δ13C, δ15N), archaeobotany (silicophyitolites and starches contained in dental tartar) and genetics (mitochondrial lineage) information were incorporated into the case study. This study allowed us to explore a single unique life story, shaped by the sociocultural dynamics of a village community. The corporeal experiences of this woman concede us a way to comprehend her health, her diet, habits and uses of the body. In particular, her burial, together with an infant located at her feet in a ceramic vessel, leads us to (re)think the relationships between the dead, the living and their ancestors, from a relational perspective and overcoming merely biological associations.

Keywords : Social bioarchaeology; Osteobiography; Sierras of Córdoba; Final late Holocene.

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