2012 Dahlberg Award Winner Dental morphological variation among six Pre-Hispanic South American populations with implications for the peopling of the New World

Abstract

The analysis of the human dentition pro-vides important information on the origins and dispersals of the first American inhabitants. However, most of this work has focused on North America, whereas less research has been devoted to variation within Central and South America. This study examines the permanent dentitions of 340 individuals from six pre-Hispanic South American populations and places them in the broader context of the peopling of the New World. Non-metric dental data were collected using the Arizona State University Dental Anthropology System (ASUDAS). Intra- and inter-regional comparisons were assessed using the Mean Measure of Divergence statistical program. All samples are characterized by relatively high frequencies of UM1 enamel extension and LM1 deflecting wrinkle and low frequencies of UM1 cusp 5 and LM2 Y-groove pattern. Although preliminary, results indicate that populations from Chile, Venezuela and Peru-Northern Coast are dentally similar and follow the Sinodont dental pattern. The Peru-Southern Highlands sample is the most divergent of the South American groups examined, showing the closest affinities with Sundadonts. Finally, no clear pattern was found for Bolivia and Peru-Amazonian Andes, as most of their trait frequencies fall within the range of overlap between Sinodont and Sundadont populations.