Identification of Bilateral Congenital Radioulnar Synostosis in an Early Horizon Burial from the Site of Atalla, Peru

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Bioarchaeological research can help trace the development and distribution of rare pathologies across space and time, aiding in our understanding of how past peoples experienced and made sense of a variety of conditions and diseases. Congenital radioulnar synostosis (CRUS), a developmental condition resulting in fusion of the proximal radius and ulna, is one such pathology rarely identified in the archaeological record. This presentation introduces a prehistoric case of bilateral CRUS observed in a subadult excavated at the site of Atalla in the Huancavelica region of Peru. Atalla is a large early village site with monumental public architecture and long-distance trade connections with other areas of Peru. The subadult, which dates to the Early Horizon (ca. 800 BCE) occupation of the site, was interred flexed in a simple oval-shaped pit associated with a nearby feature of a roughly circular arrangement of angular stones and rounded cobbles. This example is only the second case of CRUS reported from Peru and may represent the earliest case identified worldwide.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 26164