Dental morphological variation in autochthonous Cuban populations.

The present study analyses the dental morphological characteristics, by means of the ASU Dental Anthropology System, of 1262 individuals from the Caribbean. The individuals, dated from 2000 BCE to the end of the 15th century AD, and relative to the islands of Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Guadeloupe were organized on the basis of chronology, cultural affiliation, and geographic provenance in 13 distinct groups and analysed for 66 discrete dental characteristics. When investigated using multivariate statistics the groups map out clearly: the Cuban Guanahatabeys and the Cueva Roja pre-ceramic sample from the Dominican Republic separate from all of the other groups. A second indication emerges within the cluster that includes all of the more recent, pottery-bearing, groups. These do not appear to separate on the basis of cultural affiliation but of geography: with all the individuals from the north-western portion of the area under investigation well distinct from the more south-eastern ones. The results suggest the Guanahatabeys and Cueva Roja populations shared a common origin and settled into the Caribbean after one of the earlier migratory waves. It furthermore indicates that the transition from these two groups to the pottery bearing cultures was accompanied by substantial immigration and population change, once again supporting theories discussed in some of our previous studies according to which there must have been at least two distinct migratory waves into the Caribbean. Funding: Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs