Article
Helminth infection and human mobility in sambaquis: Paleoparasitological, paleogenetic, and microremains investigations in Jabuticabeira II, Brazil (2890 ± 55 to 1805 ± 65 BP)
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IÑIGUEZ, Alena Mayo et al. Helminth infection and human mobility in sambaquis: Paleoparasitological, paleogenetic, and microremains investigations in Jabuticabeira II, Brazil (2890 ± 55 to 1805 ± 65 BP). The Holocene, v. 32, n. 3, p. 200-207, 2022.
0959-6936
10.1177/09596836211060490
1477-0911
Autor
Iñiguez, Alena Mayo
Brito, Lorrayne
Guedes, Lucélia
Chaves, Sergio Augusto de Miranda
Resumen
Sambaquis or shellmounds are archeological sites constructed by hunter-fisher-gatherers that inhabited the Brazilian coast about 10,000–2000 yrs BP.
Jabuticabeira II (JABII: 2890 ± 55 to 1805 ± 65 BP) is one of dozens of contemporaneous sambaquis of the Santa Catarina state, South Brazil, and contains
hundreds of neatly organized burials, indicating great population density. In order to gather information about the health, diet and way of life of people
in JABII, a paleoparasitological, paleogenetic, and micro-human remains investigation was carried out. Pelvic region and environmental control samples
from six individuals exhumed from JABII were submitted to microscopic and ancient DNA (aDNA) investigation. Paleoparasitological analyses based on
light microscopy were negative. However, a variety of informative microremains were found. Diatoms, fish scales, and algae characterize the marine and
estuarine environment. Ipomoea batatas and Zea mays starch grains suggested cultivated items as part of their diet in agreement with the literature. The
finding of Podocarpus sp. pollen grain, characteristic of highlander vegetation, suggests human mobility of JABII individuals which were settlement in the
coast. Paleogenetic analyses showed Ascaris sp. helminth infection based on nad1 gene fragment detected from an individual excavated at L3 FS7 burial
(1826 ± 40 BP). This aDNA result places the antiquity of Ascaris sp. infection, and haplotypes that are circulating in humans and other animals nowadays,
in Pre-Columbian South American times.