Paleodemographic profile of Punta de Teatinos, a Population of Archaic Fishermen from the semi-arid North of Chile

Abstract

In this paper, the Archaic population from Punta Teatinos was studied. Their habitat was the Bay of Coquimbo in the semi-arid north of Chile. The period was datedbetween4.905to the 1.920 BP. Two cultural levels represent the cemetery studied, the first one assimilable to the Archaic Phase III and the latest with different burial characteristics, previous to that of the Molle complex. The main goal was to provide a synthesis of the currently available knowledge about the group, providing a better characterization and, the achievement of future comparative studies at regional level. The characterization of this human group was reached starting from the paleobiological information which propitiated the inferences on its quality of life, its adaptation and variation in the time and space, using different variables related to the growth and the development, health, nutrition and demography. The results show that the expectance of life at the birth was of 33,20years; the percentage of younger than 15years was 34,9%; between 15 and 50 years oldwas60%andonly 1,5%was older than 50years. The dependence rate at 0,67, being the gross rate of deaths of 30,10 o/oo and the family size reached 2,97. These results are contrasted with data on different prehistoric populations from Argentina, Chile and United States with the purpose of comparison; as a conclusion, peoples from Punta Teatinos show the highest expectations of life. The indexes of health, nutrition, growth and individual development, plus the demographic values allow us to conclude that this human group has a typical profile of an archaic coastal population, living an experience and an adaptation process according with their historical moment and the available resources. Indicators of health and of nutrition, the growth and the development of the individuals, as well as the demographic values, reveal atypical populational profile of a coastal Archaic group, living an experience and a process of consistent functional adaptation for the historical moment and the available resources.