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The Chinchorro culture inhabited the coastal Atacama Desert between 7,500 and 3,500 years BP, maintaining a hunter-gatherer-fisher lifestyle and practicing complex mortuary rituals. With the later adoption of agriculture, shifts in subsistence strategies and burial customs emerged. This study investigated long-term biological variation across three diachronic populations from northern Chile: Archaic-period Chinchorro individuals, pre-Hispanic agriculturalists, and contemporary Chileans. Using computed tomography (CT) and 3D reconstruction techniques, we analyzed intracranial volume (ICV) and estimated stature to assess morphological differences. The results show that both ICV and stature are significantly greater in the present-day Chilean population than in the pre-Hispanic groups. The average ICV was 1,321.26 cc in Chinchorro individuals, 1,336.57 cc in pre-Hispanic agriculturalists, and 1,481.22 cc in modern Chileans—representing a 12.05% increase between the earliest and most recent groups. Males and females exhibited 14.62% and 10.81% increases, respectively. Sexual dimorphism in the ICV was lower among agriculturalists (8.97%) than among Chinchorro (10.84%) and modern individuals (13.68%). Notably, the transition to agriculture did not result in significant changes in either ICV or stature. Instead, the marked increases observed in modern individuals have been associated primarily with improved nutrition, healthcare, and overall living conditions since the 20th century.
Details
; Silva-Pinto, Verónica 2
; Valenzuela, Yanis 3 ; de la Iglesia-Vayá, María 4
; Molina-Mateo, José 5
; Salazar-García, Domingo C. 6
; Valdes-Sosa, Pedro A. 7
; Gálvez, Marcelo 8
1 School of Medicine, Finis Terrae University, 7501015, Santiago, Chile (ROR: https://ror.org/0225snd59) (GRID: grid.440629.d) (ISNI: 0000 0004 5934 6911); Department of Radiology, Clínica las Condes, 7591046, Santiago, Chile (ROR: https://ror.org/00j5bwe91) (GRID: grid.477064.6) (ISNI: 0000 0004 0604 1831); Biomedical Imaging Unit and Artificial Intelligence FISABIO-CIPF, Foundation for the Promotion of Health and Biomedical Research of the Valencia Region, Valencia, Spain (ROR: https://ror.org/0116vew40) (GRID: grid.428862.2) (ISNI: 0000 0004 0506 9859)
2 Escuela de Antropología, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales e Historia, Universidad Diego Portales, Santiago, Chile (ROR: https://ror.org/03gtdcg60) (GRID: grid.412193.c) (ISNI: 0000 0001 2150 3115); Anthropology Area, Museo Nacional de Historia Natural from Chile, Santiago, Chile; PhD Programme in Geography and History of the Mediterranean from Prehistory to the Modern Age, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain (ROR: https://ror.org/043nxc105) (GRID: grid.5338.d) (ISNI: 0000 0001 2173 938X)
3 Volunteer Anthropology Area, Museo Nacional de Historia Natural from Chile, Santiago, Chile
4 Biomedical Imaging Unit and Artificial Intelligence FISABIO-CIPF, Foundation for the Promotion of Health and Biomedical Research of the Valencia Region, Valencia, Spain (ROR: https://ror.org/0116vew40) (GRID: grid.428862.2) (ISNI: 0000 0004 0506 9859); General Directorate of Research and Innovation, Regional Ministry of Health in Valencia Region, Valencia, Spain; Biomedical Research Networking Center in Mental Health (CIBERSAM G23), Spanish National Network for Research in Mental Health, Madrid, Spain (ROR: https://ror.org/009byq155) (GRID: grid.469673.9) (ISNI: 0000 0004 5901 7501)
5 Center for Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de València, 46022, Valencia, Spain (ROR: https://ror.org/01460j859) (GRID: grid.157927.f) (ISNI: 0000 0004 1770 5832)
6 Department of Prehistory, Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain (ROR: https://ror.org/043nxc105) (GRID: grid.5338.d) (ISNI: 0000 0001 2173 938X); Department of Geological Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa (ROR: https://ror.org/03p74gp79) (GRID: grid.7836.a) (ISNI: 0000 0004 1937 1151)
7 MOE Key Lab for Neuroinformation, The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China (ROR: https://ror.org/04qr3zq92) (GRID: grid.54549.39) (ISNI: 0000 0004 0369 4060); Cuban Center for Neuroscience, Havana, Cuba (ROR: https://ror.org/00rk1k743) (GRID: grid.417683.f) (ISNI: 0000 0004 0402 1992)
8 School of Medicine, Finis Terrae University, 7501015, Santiago, Chile (ROR: https://ror.org/0225snd59) (GRID: grid.440629.d) (ISNI: 0000 0004 5934 6911); Department of Radiology, Clínica las Condes, 7591046, Santiago, Chile (ROR: https://ror.org/00j5bwe91) (GRID: grid.477064.6) (ISNI: 0000 0004 0604 1831)