Health and Disease during the Ecuadorian Formative: A Case Study from Buen Suceso

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Ecuadorian Formative Period (3800-300 BC) is known for the creation of ceramics, a transition towards agriculture, and the development of sedentary settlements along the Pacific coast. These social and economic changes were often associated with declines in health, as people ate less varied agricultural diets and increasingly encountered pathogens transmitted in human and animal feces. However, not all people experienced these changes the same. Buen Suceso, occupied from 3800-1425 BC, reflects many of the social and economic patterns associated with the Formative Period (circular village, ceramic technologies), but to date, skeletal remains have not shown a corresponding rate of lesions associated with malnutrition or infectious disease. This poster presents two cases of osteomyelitis, an indicator of infectious disease, from Buen Suceso, documented on two individuals excavated in July 2023. These two cases stand in contrast to the general lack of pathology from the site, prompting us to reconsider our ideas about health and disease at Buen Suceso.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39040.0