Whence these farmers?: El pantano bioarchaeology and the advent of agriculture in West Mexico

Thesis (M.A.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2007This masters thesis in dental anthropology and bioarchaeology examines discrete, non-metric dental data collected from skeletal remains of a Middle Formative era Mexican population at EI Pantano. This site is situated in Jalisco, West Mexico, and represents one of the earliest archaeological examples of transitional agriculture for this area. Materials recovered from the burials suggest that the yet-undiscovered settlement whose people used the cemetery had complex interactions with diverse Mexican groups, including the OImec-linked site of Tlatilco in the Valley of Mexico, and also with groups as far away as Guatemala and the Andes mountains. Phenetic analysis of dental morphology shows results which are consistent with biological affinity between El Pantano and Andean populations, and also suggests that Tlatilco may be among the population's loser relationships within Mexico.1. Introduction -- Project overview -- Anthropological context -- Regional context -- Early agriculture in Mexico -- Long-distance contact in prehistoric Latin America -- 2. The site of El Pantano -- Excavation of El Pantano -- Discussion of the archaeology -- The skeletal collection -- 3. Methods of dental analysis -- Dental morphology : genetics and development -- Dental traits -- Dental anatomy and orientation -- Maxilary traits -- Mandibular traits -- Trait presence/absence -- 4. Hypotheses and testing expectations -- Overview of analytical questions -- Dental complexes -- Internal heterogeneity -- Affinity with reference populations -- 5. Descriptive results -- Summary of El Pantano dentition -- Trait frequencies at El Pantano -- Labial curvature (UI1) -- Shoveling (UI1) -- Double-shoveling (UI1) -- Tuburculum dentale (UI2) -- Distal accessory ridge (UC) -- Uto-Aztecan Premolar (UP1) -- Hypocone (UM2) -- Cusp 5 (UM1) -- Caribelli's trait (UM1) -- Parastyle (UM3) -- Root number (UP1) -- Peg/reduced/absent (UI2) -- Odontome (P) -- Lingual cusps (LP2) -- Anterior fovea (LM1) -- Groove pattern (LM2) -- Cusp number (LM1 and LM2) -- Protostylid (LM3) -- Cusp 7 (LM1) -- Mandibular root traits -- Congential absence (UM3) -- Torsomlar angle (LM3) -- Descriptive comparison of populations -- 6. Analytical results -- Positioning among regional populations -- Internal heterogeneity -- 7. Discussion and conclusions -- Whence these farmers? -- Interpretation of results -- Discussion -- Implications for anthropology of agriculture --Implications for migration and movement studies -- Future research -- Conclusion -- Bibliography