Burials, Diets, and Sex Equality among the Hunter-Fisher-Gatherers of Punta Teatinos, Chile (6000–2000 cal BP)

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Hunter-gatherer (HG) groups show high levels of cooperation expressed through practices like food sharing. Although an egalitarian ethos has been identified in many HG, their social structures are not only variable but can intentionally and repeatedly alternate between different levels of hierarchy. The origin of inequality among HG has been attributed to demographic pressure, violence, or ecologies that foster the control of clumped and unevenly distributed resources. So called “complexity,” rank and hierarchy, is particularly variable among Hunter-Fisher-Gatherer (HFG) groups. The study of dietary and funerary variability in HG and HFG groups provides an avenue to explore their past forms of social organization and possible inequalities.

This study evaluates sex equality among the HFG from Punta Teatinos, Chile. This large Middle- and Late-Holocene shell midden and funerary site is in the semi-arid region of Northern Chile (SARNC). To examine sex equality/inequality, we compare the diet and burials of males and females. Diet is analyzed using dental pathology and stable isotope data. The characteristics of the burials (e.g. presence/absence of surrounding stones structures) of males and females are also analyzed to further explore sex equality/inequality among the peoples of Punta Teatinos.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 53227