Revista Chilena de Historia Natural 79 (2): 185-193, 2006
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Microevolución de grupos humanos arcaicos de Arica, norte de Chile, y su contribución
genética a las poblaciones del Período Formativo
HÉCTOR HUGO VARELA, JOSÉ ALBERTO COCILOVO, CALOGERO M. SANTORO & FRANCISCO
The microevolution of the archaic populations from Chile’s northern coast and its
morphological contribution to Formative period groups was studied. The sample comprised 181 individuals belonging to two Archaic
(Morro-Uhle and Morro 1-1/6) and one Formative (Playa Miller-7 [Plm-7]) series of the coast and one sample from the Formative (Alto
Ramírez) exhumed at the Azapa Valley. A total of 29 metric variables of the cranium were analyzed. Biological variability was assessed
using discriminant analysis and Mahalanobis’ D<sup>2</sup> distance stadistic (MDS). Population structure was inferred
using a method based on quantitative genetic theory that predicts a lineal relationship between average within-group phenotypic
variance and group distance to the population centroid. The four samples studied proved to be different from a morphologic point of
view. The greatest distance was observed between Plm-7 (coast Formative) and Alto Ramirez (valley Formative), the least between
Morro-Uhle and Morro 1-1/6, the remaining distances presenting intermediate values. Regarding the total population, the most divergent
group was Alto Ramírez and the least divergent was Morro1-1/6. A gradual biologic change was observed between Archaic (Morro
Uhle and Morro 1-1/6) and coastal Formative populations (Plm-7) pointing to a morphological (genetic) contribution of Archaic
fishermen to Formative population of Chile’s northern coast, without excluding gene flow from other groups of the South Central
Andean Area.
quantitative cranial
traits, Chinchorro, late archaic, formative, northern Chile
