Bioarchaeology of Care of Fishing Community at Tzintzuntzan, Western Mexico: A Multimethod Approach

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Tzintzuntzan, Capital of the Tarascan Empire: New Perspectives" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Otitis and mastoiditis are conditions that produce deafness and disability in the pre-antibiotic era, especially in the fishing community. This study describes lesions on temporal bones in the Western Culture from Mexico living near Lake Pátzcuaro, Michoacán. A sample (n = 41) of temporal bones from Tzintzuntzan sites was analyzed by a multidisciplinary team (physical anthropologist, archaeologist, radiologist). We used different methodologies: osteological morphofoscopy evaluation, multiple computed tomography scanning, virtual reconstruction 2D and 3D, which followed index of care protocols. All evaluations were double-blinded with a previous standardized process. The lesions observed by all methods are compatible with the diagnoses of chronic otitis and mastoiditis (73.1%, 30/41), which could produce a hearing impairment. The combination of multiple methodologies and a multidisciplinary team of evaluators improved the likelihood of classification of lesions. The frequency of these lesions is high in fish stocks such as the site of Tzintzuntzan; this could lead to significant hearing impairment in these communities affecting their performance in everyday life.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Tzintzuntzan, Capital of the Tarascan Empire: New Perspectives   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36250.0