Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Prevalence of cribra orbitalia in Pacopampa during the formative period in Peru

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Anatomical Science International Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Cribra orbitalia is characterized by an aggregation of small apertures in the orbital roof in response to marrow hypertrophy. This pathological change is indicative of biological stress during youth. We examined the prevalence of this lesion in Pacopampa, a ceremonial center of the formative period, located in the northern highlands of Peru. Using this evaluation of cribra orbitalia, we reconstructed aspects of the population’s health and nutritional status during the formation of Andean civilization. We examined 41 orbits of 27 adult individuals (13 males, 14 females) and recorded the macroscopic presence or absence of cribra orbitalia. The presence or absence of cribra orbitalia was the same bilaterally for all 14 individuals having both orbits preserved. The pathology was present in two of the 13 males (15.4%), one of the 14 (7.1%) females, and three of 27 individuals (11.1%) for both sexes combined. There was no difference in the frequency between sexes. The prevalence of cribra orbitalia was found to be lower in Pacopampa than in the comparative data of coastal populations. It is reasonable to assume that the increase in social complexity in Pacopampa was probably unrelated to the decline in overall health of the people.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Allison MJ, Pezzia A, Hasegawa I, Gerszten E (1974) A case of hookworm infestation in a pre-Columbian American. Am J Phys Anthropol 41:103–105

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Andrushko VA (2007) The bioarchaeology of inca imperialism in the heartland: an analysis of prehistoric burials from the Cuzco region of Peru. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of California, Santa Barbara

  • Angel JL (1966) Porotic hyperostosis. Anemias, malarias, and the marshes in the prehistoric eastern Mediterranean. Science 153:760–763

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Aufderheide AC, Rodríguez-Martín C (1998) Cambridge encyclopedia of human paleopathology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Blom DE, Buikstra JE, Keng L, Tomczak PD, Shoreman E, Stevens-Tuttle D (2005) Anemia and childhood mortality: latitudinal patterning along the coast of pre-Columbian Peru. Am J Phys Anthropol 127:152–169

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Brooks S, Suchey JM (1990) Skeletal age determination based on the os pubis: a comparison of the Acsadi–Nemeskeri and Suchey–Brooks methods. Hum Evol 5:227–238

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bruzek J (2002) A method for visual determination of sex using the human hip bone. Am J Phys Anthropol 117:157–168

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Buckberry JL, Chamberlain AT (2002) Age estimation from the auricular surface of the ilium: a revised method. Am J Phys Anthropol 119:231–239

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dillon R (2015) Ritual violence and times of transition: a bioarchaeological analysis of burials from Huaca Santa Clara and Huaca Gallinazo in the Virú Valley, Peru. Electronic Thesis and Dissertation repository. Paper 2724

  • Hengen OP (1971) Cribra orbitalia pathogenesis and probable etiology. Homo 22:57–76

    Google Scholar 

  • Hirata K (1988) A contribution to the paleopathology of cribra orbitalia in Japanese 1. cribra orbitalia in Edo Japanese. St. Marianna Med J 16:6–24

    Google Scholar 

  • Hrdlička A (1914) Anthropological field work in Peru in 1913 with notes on the pathology of the ancient Peruvians. Smithson Inst Misc Collect 61:1–69

    Google Scholar 

  • Izumi S, Terada K (1972) Andes 4: Excavation at Kotosh, Peru, 1963 and 1966. University of Tokyo Press, Tokyo

    Google Scholar 

  • Kennedy GE (1986) The relationshio between auditory exostoses and cold water: a latitudinal analysis. Am J Phys Anthropol 71:401–415

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Krogman WM, Iscan MY (1986) The human skeleton in forensic medicine. C.C. Thomas, Springfield, pp 103–132

    Google Scholar 

  • Larsen CS (2015) Bioarchaeology. Interpreting behaviour from the human skeleton, 2nd edn. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Lovejoy CO (1985) Dental wear in the Libben population: its functional pattern and role in the determination of adult skeletal age at death. Am J Phys Anthropol 68:47–56

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lovejoy CO, Meindl RS, Pryzbeck TR, Mensforth RP (1985) Chronological metamorphosis of the auricular surface of the illium: a new method of determining adult age at death. Am J Phys Anthropol 68:15–28

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nagaoka T, Morita W, Seki Y, Uzawa K, Inokuchi K, Villanueva JP, Alemán Paredes D, Ordóňez Livia M, Morales Chocano D (2011) Bioarchaeological study of human skeletal remains from the Pacopampa site in Peru. Am Antig 14:1–27 (in Japanese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Nagaoka T, Seki Y, Morita W, Uzawa K, Paredes DA, Chocano DM (2012) A case study of a high-status human skeleton from Pacopampa in formative period Peru. Anat Sci Int 87:234–237

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pechenkina EA, Delgado E (2006) Dimensions of health and social structure in the early Intermediate period Cemetery at Villa El Salvador, Peru. Am J Phys Anthropol 131:218–235

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Phenice TW (1969) A newly developed visual method of sexing the os pubis. Am J Phys Anthropol 30:297–301

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • R Core Team (2014) R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna. http://www.R-project.org/

  • Rucknagel DL (1966) On the geographical distribution and ethnic origin of thalassemia. N. Z. Med J 65:826–832

    Google Scholar 

  • Seki Y (2014a) Introducción. In: Seki Y (ed) El centro ceremonial andino: nuevas perspectivas para los Períodos Arcaico y Formativo (Senri Ethnological Studies 89). National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka, pp 1–19 (in Spanish)

    Google Scholar 

  • Seki Y (2014b) La diversidad del poder en la sociedad del Período Formativo: Una perspectiva desde la sierra norte. In: Seki Y (ed) El centro ceremonial andino: nuevas perspectivas para los Períodos Arcaico y Formativo (Senri Ethnological Studies 89). National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka, pp 175–200 (in Spanish)

    Google Scholar 

  • Seki Y, Yoneda M (2005) Cambios de manejo del poder en el Formativo: desde el análisis de la dieta alimenticia. Perpectivas Latinoamericanas, Numero 2, Centro de Estudios Lainoamericanos, Universidad Nanzan, Nagoya, pp 110–131 (in Spanish)

  • Seki Y, Villanueva JP, Sakai M, Alemán D, Ordóñez M, Tosso W, Espinoza A, Inokuchi K, Morales D (2010) Nuevas evidencials del sitio arqueológico de Pacopampa, en la sierra norte del Perú. Boletín de Arqueología PUCP 12:69–95 (In Spanish)

    Google Scholar 

  • Stuart-Macadam PL (1985) Porotic hyperostosis: representative of a childhood condition. Am J Phys Anthropol 66:391–398

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Takigami M (2015) The study of isotope ecology of food resource exploitation and dietary transition in the pre-Hispanic Andes. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Tokyo (in Japanese)

  • Todd TW (1920) Age changes in the pubic bone: I. The white male pubis. Am J Phys Anthropol 3:285–334

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Todd TW (1921) Age changes in the pubic bone: II, the pubis of the male negro-white hybrid; III, the pubis of the white female; IV, the pubis of the female negro-white hybrid. Am J Phys Anthropol 4:1–70

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Uzawa K (2010) La diffusion de los camelidos domesticados en el norte del Peru durante el Periodo Formativo. Boletín de Arqueología PUCP 12:249–259 (in Spanish)

    Google Scholar 

  • Verano JW (1992) Prehistoric disease and demography in the Andes. In: Verano JW, Ubelaker DH (eds) Disease and demography in the Americas. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, pp 15–24

    Google Scholar 

  • Walker PL (2008) Sexing skulls using discriminant function analysis of visually assessed traits. Am J Phys Anthropol 136:39–50

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Walker PL, Bathurst RR, Richman E, Gjerdrum T (2009) The causes of porotic hyperostosis and cribra orbitalia: a reappraisal of the iron-deficiency-anemia hypothesis. Am J Phys Anthropol 139:109–125

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to express their gratitude to Dr. W. Morita, Ms. M. Arata, Ms. N. Nakagawa, and Prof. K. Hirata for invaluable helps and to Prof. H. Yorifuji and Prof. T. Tsurumoto for important suggestions. This study is supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numbers 23222003 and 16H05639.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anatomy, St. Marianna University School of Medicine, 2-16-1 Sugao, Miyamae Ward, Kawasaki, Kanagawa, 216-8511, Japan

    Tomohito Nagaoka

  2. National Museum of Ethnology, Suita, Japan

    Yuji Seki

  3. Faculty of Human Sciences, University of East Asia, Shimonoseki, Japan

    Kazuhiro Uzawa

  4. Yamagata University, Yamagata, Japan

    Mai Takigami

  5. Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima, Peru

    Daniel Morales Chocano

Authors
  1. Tomohito Nagaoka
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Yuji Seki
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Kazuhiro Uzawa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Mai Takigami
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Daniel Morales Chocano
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tomohito Nagaoka.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical standards

The materials and methods of this study did not require approval by the ethics committee of our institute.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Nagaoka, T., Seki, Y., Uzawa, K. et al. Prevalence of cribra orbitalia in Pacopampa during the formative period in Peru. Anat Sci Int 93, 254–261 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12565-017-0404-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12565-017-0404-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation