Manuel Domingo D’Angelo del Campo, Laura Medialdea, Pamela García Laborde, Mónica Salemme, Fernando Santiago, Manuel Campo Martín, Armando González Martín, and Ricardo Anibal Guichón

The Sacrum is important for body stability, attachment of the lower limbs and the protection of pelvic organs. This bone may be affected by congenital, degenerative or multifactorial pathologies. The aim of the present study is to analyze sacral lesions in a well-preserved sample of remains of Southern Patagonian hunter-gatherers and the possible influences of temporal-spatial and lifestyle variables, with special attention given to the effects of Native-European contact. Pathological signs from 56 adult sacral bones from both sexes and comprising a broad chronological range (5200 years BP- 20th century), were analyzed following the methodology proposed by Campo (2003, 2015). Pathologies analyzed showed that native individuals who lived in missionary areas presented a higher prevalence of lesions than samples from the remains of individuals, pre-contact and post-contact, from outside the missions, except for Schmörl nodes. The effects of age and sex showed similar patterns with respect to other populations. A high prevalence of spondylolysis was observed, similarly to Inuit samples. Since the methodology for classifying Spina Bifida Oculta -SBO- still lacks standardization, in this work, we propose using the same methods employed by Kumar and Tubbs (2011).

Gabriel Ramón and Luis Andrade Ciudad

In this paper, we present a documentary reference to the “Guzmango language” in early colonial Cajamarca (Peru), which we then contextualize and discuss. In light of this information, we revisit the debate on the relationship between toponymic areas, languages, peoples, and political units of the past in this region, examining the notion of “contained linguistic area”. We put forward a preliminary equivalence between the “Guzmango language” and the “Den language”, as defined by Alfredo Torero, while discussing its limitations.

Giovanna Bacchiddu and Daniela Tapia Segovia

This work explores the place of humor and jokes in the daily life of the inhabitants of Apiao, an island located in the Chiloé Archipelago. Here, underlying the making of jokes is the practice of deliberately mixing real and fictitious facts, presented as exaggerations or fantasies, transforming ‘mice into lions,’ as a local expression graphically describes such practice. This combination, completely integrated into daily communication, aims at showing confidence and familiarity among its interactants. However, it also has negative consequences in the spreading of gossip and anonymous rumors about other inhabitants. Through the analysis of ethnographic data, we maintain that both jokes and gossip are two potentialities of the same practice of local communication: intentional mixing of truth and lies.

In all human societies, textiles play important roles in social, economic, and religious life. As in other Polynesian societies, on Rapa Nui (Easter Island) in the second half of the 19th century, textiles were important locally and served, above all, as objects of exchange with foreign visitors. This article examines cultural transformations that occurred on Rapa Nui, as reflected in the use and signification of textiles, particularly in the use of introduced cloth and clothing during the times of the first missions and the first colonial agents. Our analysis is based on information taken from missionary writings and from the reports of travelers and explorers who visited the island during that period. Understanding that material culture cannot be separated from the cultural practices in which it is embedded, our analysis will focus on accounts referring to material objects as elements that reflect the social and cultural transformations of the historic context in which they were created. We argue that the islanders redefined Western textiles that were introduced, using them in ritual contexts appropriate to the island’s culture. European textiles acted as status markers within a new social organization, and also served as sociopolitical markers among island groups (Christian converts and non-converts).