Biological distances between Late Holocene hunter-gatherers from the lower Paraná wetland (Argentina)

This study assesses the biological affinity between Late Holocene hunter-gatherers that inhabited the region of the lower Paraná wetland (Argentina) at the end of the Late Holocene (1800-700 years BP).

Cranial nonmetric traits were registered in 159 adult individuals of both sexes. Biodistances were estimated between environmental and archaeological units through Smith's Mean Measure of Divergence, Mahalanobis distance, multidimensional scaling, F_st index, and R-matrix. Biological distances concerning temporal and geographic distances between the archaeological sites were also evaluated through Mantel and partial Mantel tests.

The environmental units showed statistically significant biodistances according to a distance spatial pattern but low genetic differentiation between groups. Additionally, some archaeological sites with median radiocarbon dates around 700 years BP also presented statistically significant biodistances.

Gene flow and genetic drift could be responsible for the observed biodistance results. These processes gave rise to different subpopulations of hunter-gatherers with a shared material culture, whose territorial limits could have been reinforced around 700 years BP or earlier.