Resumen

LOTTO, Federico  y  BEGUELIN, Marien. Postcranial directional asymmetry in southern-South America populations. Rev. Mus. Antropol. [online]. 2014, vol.7, n.1, pp.00-00. ISSN 1852-060X.

Abstract The purpose of this study is to analyze directional asymmetry patterns in the size of long bones of hunter-gatherer aboriginal populations of southern South América. Postcranial variables of 272 adult individuals of both sexes were measured, belonging to five samples from Pampa, Patagonia and Norwestern Argentina, and from the northern coast of Chile. Data from 139 adult individuals of both sexes, belonging to three samples from northern, southeastern and southwestern North América were also collected for reference. The entire data set was analyzed in terms of laterality, magnitude, sexual dimorphism and subsistence patterns. Results show significant differences in directional asymmetry of the upper limb, particularly in the diaphyseal diameter of the humerus. In turn, these results suggest that subsistence patterns, at least as they were considered in this study, are not an adequate environmental variable to explain asymmetry patterns in the examined populations.

Palabras clave : Laterality; Plasticity; Activity patterns; Sexual dimorphism.

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