A genetic history of the pre-contact Caribbean.

Humans settled the Caribbean about 6,000 years ago, and ceramic use and intensified agriculture mark a shift from the Archaic to the Ceramic Age at around 2,500 years ago1-3. Here we report genome-wide data from 174 ancient individuals from The Bahamas, Haiti and the Dominican Republic (collectively, Hispaniola), Puerto Rico, Curaçao and Venezuela, which we co-analysed with 89 previously published ancient individuals. Stone-tool-using Caribbean people, who first entered the Caribbean during the Archaic Age, derive from a deeply divergent population that is closest to Central and northern South American individuals; contrary to previous work4, we find no support for ancestry contributed by a population related to North American individuals. Archaic-related lineages were >98% replaced by a genetically homogeneous ceramic-using population related to speakers of languages in the Arawak family from northeast South America; these people moved through the Lesser Antilles and into the Greater Antilles at least 1,700 years ago, introducing ancestry that is still present. Ancient Caribbean people avoided close kin unions despite limited mate pools that reflect small effective population sizes, which we estimate to be a minimum of 500-1,500 and a maximum of 1,530-8,150 individuals on the combined islands of Puerto Rico and Hispaniola in the dozens of generations before the individuals who we analysed lived. Census sizes are unlikely to be more than tenfold larger than effective population sizes, so previous pan-Caribbean estimates of hundreds of thousands of people are too large5,6. Confirming a small and interconnected Ceramic Age population7, we detect 19 pairs of cross-island cousins, close relatives buried around 75 km apart in Hispaniola and low genetic differentiation across islands. Genetic continuity across transitions in pottery styles reveals that cultural changes during the Ceramic Age were not driven by migration of genetically differentiated groups from the mainland, but instead reflected interactions within an interconnected Caribbean world1,8.

Mucopolysaccharidosis type VI (Maroteaux-Lamy syndrome) in the pre-Columbian culture of Colombia.

Mucopolysaccharidosis type VI or Maroteaux Lamy syndrome is an autosomal recessive lysosomal storage disorder resulting from a deficiency of arylsulfatase B, the clinical features include short stature, hepatosplenomegaly, dysostosis multiplex, stiff joints, corneal clouding, cardiac abnormalities, and facial dysmorphism, with intelligence usually normal. We present evidence of the possible existence of Maroteaux Lamy syndrome in pre-Columbian pottery 2000 years ago, in the Colombo-Ecuadorian Pacific coast of the Tumaco-Tolita culture.

La mucopolisacaridosis tipo VI o síndrome de Maroteaux Lamy es una enfermedad de depósito lisosomal autosómica recesiva que resulta de una deficiencia de la enzima arilsulfatasa B, las características clínicas incluyen talla baja, hepatoesplenomegalia, disostosis múltiple, rigidez en las articulaciones, opacidad corneal, anomalías cardíacas, y dismorfismo facial, con inteligencia generalmente normal. Presentamos evidencia de la posible existencia de síndrome de Maroteaux Lamy en la cerámica precolombina desde hace 2000 años, en la costa pacífica colombo-ecuatoriana pertenecientes a la cultura Tumaco-Tolita.

Early evidence of the ballgame in Oaxaca, Mexico.

As a defining characteristic of Mesoamerican civilization, the ballgame has a long and poorly understood history. Because the ballgame is associated with the rise of complex societies, understanding its origins also illuminates the evolution of socio-politically complex societies. Although initial evidence, in the form of ceramic figurines, dates to 1700 BCE, and the oldest known ballcourt dates to 1600 BCE, the ritual paraphernalia and ideology associated with the game appear around 1400 BCE, the start of the so-called Early Horizon, defined by the spread of Olmec-style symbols across Mesoamerica. Early Horizon evidence of ballgame paraphernalia both identical to and different from that of the Gulf Coast Olmec can be seen on figurines from coastal Chiapas and the central highlands of Mexico, respectively. The Mexican state of Oaxaca, however, has yielded little data on early involvement in the ballgame. The discovery of a ballplayer figurine in the Mixteca Alta region of Oaxaca demonstrates the early participation of this region in the iconography and ideology of the ballgame. In lieu of an actual ballcourt, the focus may have been on the symbolic component of ballplayers and their association with supernatural forces, as part of emerging leaders' legitimization strategies.

Ancient representation of Meige's syndrome in the Moche culture in the pre-Columbian Peru.

The Moches were a pre-Columbian culture from Peru, who had a fine ceramic technique and used to represent diseases. One example is the potter presented here which represents a man with a probable Meige's syndrome and may be the first artistic representation of this disease.

Thermoluminescence dating of Brazilian indigenous ceramics.

Two indigenous ceramics fragments, one from Lagoa Queimada (LQ) and another from Barra dos Negros (BN), both sites located on Bahia state (Brazil), were dated by thermoluminescence (TL) method. Each fragment was physically prepared and divided into two fractions, one was used for TL measurement and the other for annual dose determination. The TL fraction was chemically treated, divided in sub samples and irradiated with several doses. The plot extrapolation from TL intensities as function of radiation dose enabled the determination of the accumulated dose (D(ac)), 3.99 Gy and 1.88 Gy for LQ and BN, respectively. The annual dose was obtained through the uranium, thorium and potassium determination by ICP-MS. The annual doses (D(an)) obtained were 2.86 and 2.26 mGy/year. The estimated ages were approximately 1375 and 709 y for BN and LQ ceramics, respectively. The ages agreed with the archaeologists' estimation for the Aratu and Tupi tradition periods, respectively.

Chemical and archaeological evidence for the earliest cacao beverages.

Chemical analyses of residues extracted from pottery vessels from Puerto Escondido in what is now Honduras show that cacao beverages were being made there before 1000 B.C., extending the confirmed use of cacao back at least 500 years. The famous chocolate beverage served on special occasions in later times in Mesoamerica, especially by elites, was made from cacao seeds. The earliest cacao beverages consumed at Puerto Escondido were likely produced by fermenting the sweet pulp surrounding the seeds.

Burning down the brewery: establishing and evacuating an ancient imperial colony at Cerro Baul, Peru.

Before the Inca reigned, two empires held sway over the central Andes from anno Domini 600 to 1000: the Wari empire to the north ruled much of Peru, and Tiwanaku to the south reigned in Bolivia. Face-to-face contact came when both colonized the Moquegua Valley sierra in southern Peru. The state-sponsored Wari incursion, described here, entailed large-scale agrarian reclamation to sustain the occupation of two hills and the adjacent high mesa of Cerro Baúl. Monumental buildings were erected atop the mesa to serve an embassy-like delegation of nobles and attendant personnel that endured for centuries. Final evacuation of the Baúl enclave was accompanied by elaborate ceremonies with brewing, drinking, feasting, vessel smashing, and building burning.

Ceramic representations of facial paralysis in ancient Peru.

OBJECTIVE: To provide interested scholars with a historical perspective of facial paralysis as interpreted by the ceramists of the ancient Moche culture. METHODS: The authorities and curators of the Museo Arqueológico Rafael Larco Herrera, and the Museo Nacional de Arqueología, Antropología e Historia del Perú, in Lima, Perú, provided photographs of some of the more salient examples of facial paralysis in their Moche ceramic collections. Four of these were selected for inclusion in this article. CONCLUSION: Moche pathologic portraits establish a unique point of reference in the history of facial paralysis and its sequelae. They stand alone as a prehistoric record of this disorder, unsurpassed until the appearance of Bell's work and illustrations.

Cacao usage by the earliest Maya civilization.

The Maya archaeological site at Colha in northern Belize, Central America, has yielded several spouted ceramic vessels that contain residues from the preparation of food and beverages. Here we analyse dry residue samples by using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to atmospheric-pressure chemical-ionization mass spectrometry, and show that chocolate (Theobroma cacao) was consumed by the Preclassic Maya as early as 600 bc, pushing back the earliest chemical evidence of cacao use by some 1,000 years. Our application of this new and highly sensitive analytical technique could be extended to the identification of other ancient foods and beverages.

História e atualidade das cerâmicas odontológicas / History and current status of ceramics in dentistry

Este trabalho trata de uma revisäo de literatura com o objetivo de abordar a cerâmica desde a sua introduçäo como material restaurador na Odontologia até o seu momento atual. A literatura consultada possibilitou um levantamento histórico, bem como informaçäo quanto à composiçäo, propriedades, indicaçöes e aspectos técnicos deste material, associado ou näo ao metal. A cerâmica odontológica continua em pleno desenvolvimento, o que é comprovado pelo surgimento de novos sistemas

Plant hallucinogens, shamanism and Nazca ceramics.

The ceramics of the ancient Nazca, an extinct people that lived on the south coast of Peru from 100 to 800 AD, are examined. It is suggested that plant hallucinogens and stimulants including Trichocereus pachanoi, Erythroxylon coca, Datura spp., and Anadenanthera peregrina were utilized in religious ritualism connected with shamanism, stressing personal ecstasy as a means of contact with the supernatural on the part of regional religious-political leaders. Shamanic themes linked to world-wide plant hallucinogenic ingestion are identified and summarized, and their representation in Nazca ceramic art delineated.