Human mobility in central Brazil in the early Holocene: Lagoa Santa's cross-sectional analysis of long bones

• Grant number: 20/08781-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): October 01, 2020
• Effective date (End): September 30, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Archeology - Prehistoric Archaeology
• Principal Investigator: André Menezes Strauss
• Grantee: Luana da Silva Spósito
• Host Institution: Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia (MAE). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 17/16451-2 - Virtual anthropology and archaeogenomics of pre-colonial Brazil, AP.JP

Abstract

Historically, Central Brazil s population during the late Pleistocene and the early Holocene was characterized as highly mobile. However, recent studies based on strontium isotopes femurs outer circumference analysis have shown low level of mobility for these populations. Strontium isotope analyses show considerable homogeneity among the studied individuals, being compatible with the biodiversity found in the local karstic region. The preliminary analyses of the external circumference of femurs also indicate low level of mobility, since hunter-gatherers usually have higher values of the shape of the average diaphyseal axis of the femur than farmers, thus presenting a more oval shape. Based on long bones cross-sectional analysis of the lower limbs of these human remains, this project intends to evaluate the level of mobility of the populations living in the region of Lagoa Santa and to compare the results obtained with the analyses of the populations of the Sambaquis Piaçaguera and Moraes, both with collections guarded by MAE-USP.