Climate change, human health, and resilience in the Holocene.

Climate change is an indisputable threat to human health, especially for societies already confronted with rising social inequality, political and economic uncertainty, and a cascade of concurrent environmental challenges. Archaeological data about past climate and environment provide an important source of evidence about the potential challenges humans face and the long-term outcomes of alternative short-term adaptive strategies. Evidence from well-dated archaeological human skeletons and mummified remains speaks directly to patterns of human health over time through changing circumstances. Here, we describe variation in human epidemiological patterns in the context of past rapid climate change (RCC) events and other periods of past environmental change. Case studies confirm that human communities responded to environmental changes in diverse ways depending on historical, sociocultural, and biological contingencies. Certain factors, such as social inequality and disproportionate access to resources in large, complex societies may influence the probability of major sociopolitical disruptions and reorganizations-commonly known as "collapse." This survey of Holocene human-environmental relations demonstrates how flexibility, variation, and maintenance of Indigenous knowledge can be mitigating factors in the face of environmental challenges. Although contemporary climate change is more rapid and of greater magnitude than the RCC events and other environmental changes we discuss here, these lessons from the past provide clarity about potential priorities for equitable, sustainable development and the constraints of modernity we must address.

The pathway of tuberculosis in Argentina: Historical (19th and 20th centuries), epidemiological, and paleopathological data.

OBJECTIVE: This paper explores the history of TB in Argentina from the pre- Columbian period to recent times in order to evaluate the impact of the industrialization (late 19th and early 20th centuries) on the increasing rates of this disease. MATERIALS: Historical, paleopathological, and current epidemiological data were reviewed. METHODS: Data were integrated under a paleopathological approach. RESULTS: Skeletal evidence suggests the existence of TB before colonization. This is followed by two different periods of increasing TB rates: a probable but unconfirmed first stage, related to the contact between Europeans and natives during the 16th-18th centuries, and a second stage during the Industrial Revolution, from the 1880s to the 1950s, when it was finally controlled with the aid of chemotherapies. CONCLUSIONS: TB rates increased during industrialization, coincident and probably related to immigration, the disorganized growth of cities, and bad working conditions. Nowadays, TB is under control in the general population, but it remains an important health problem in areas with poor living conditions and in immunocompromised patients. SIGNIFICANCE: This is the first study that integrates archaeological, historical and epidemiological data to acknowledge the pathway of TB in Argentina. LIMITATIONS: No skeletal evidence of TB from 19th and 20th centuries and from medical archives from sanatoria are available. SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH: Further research needs to be conducted from these records, in order to improve the current knowledge of TB during the industrialization period in Argentina.

Suprascapular ligament ossification and nerve entrapment in a modern skeleton from the central coast of Patagonia, Southern South America

Modification of the suprascapular notch into a foramen as a consequence of the ossification of the suprascapular transverse ligament is a well-known anatomical change. However, it was rarely considered by research in skeletal and cadaveric remains as a possible cause of Suprascapular Nerve Entrapment, a neuropathy that usually produces pain and weakness of the affected shoulder. This paper has the aim to present and to discuss a case of ossification of the suprascapular transverse ligament in a modern-era, possible archaeological male skeleton of 30-45 years old from the central coast of Patagonia, and a possible development of suprascapular nerve entrapment. Complete bilateral ossification of the superior transverse scapular ligament was identified. As no other morphological, traumatic or neoplastic lesions were found in the scapulae, physical activity is suggested as the cause of the ligament ossification in the skeleton, although epigenetic origin cannot be completely rejected

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Pre-Columbian tuberculosis in Tierra del Fuego? Discussion of the paleopathological and molecular evidence.

This work contributes to ongoing discussions about the nature of tuberculosis in the Western Hemisphere prior to the time of European contact. Our example, from the extreme south of South America was, at the time of our study, without firm temporal association or molecular characterization. In Tierra del Fuego, Constantinescu (1999) briefly described vertebral bone lesions compatible with TB in an undated skeleton from Myren 1 site (Chile). The remains of Myren are estimated to represent a man between 18 and 23 years old at the time of death. The objectives of this research are to extend this description, to present molecular results, to establish a radiocarbon date, and to report stable isotopic values for the remains. We provide further description of the remains, including tuberculosis-like skeletal pathology. Radiocarbon dating of 640±20 years BP attributes this individual to the precontact fourteenth-fifteenth centuries. Isotopic ratios for nitrogen and carbon from bone collagen suggest a mixed diet. Molecular results were positive for the rpoB quantitative PCR (qPCR) assays but negative for two independent IS6110 and IS1081 qPCR assays. Further testing using genomic methods to target any mycobacteria for specific identification are needed.

A case of adult osteomyelitis in a Final Late Holocene hunter-gatherer population, eastern Pampa-Patagonian transition, Argentina.

Osteomyelitis was frequent in prehistoric times, although its paleopathological recognition and analysis in skeletal remains is typically incomplete. Contrasting with osteomyelitis in children, in adults it is usually a subacute or chronic infection that develops secondary to an open injury. The aim of this paper is to present a case of osteomyelitis in an adult female skeleton, from a hunter-gatherer population that inhabited the eastern Pampa-Patagonian transition (Argentina) during Final Late Holocene (ca. 250 years BP). Macroscopic studies as well as biplanar radiographs and CT scans were used for diagnosis. Lamellar bone formations on the diaphysis and in the interior of the marrow cavity were recorded. Also, a lytic lesion was identified in CT images. The diagnostic procedures and the probable causes that could generate the lesions in the long bones of the lower limb are discussed. The lesions are consistent with osteomyelitis secondary to a contiguous focus of infection, possibly linked to the abscess in the maxillary bone.