Three-dimensional surface models of hand bones (individual 15-06)

Objectives: Cuncaicha, a rockshelter site in the southern Peruvian Andes, has yielded archaeological evidence for human occupation at high elevation (4480 masl) during the Terminal Pleistocene (12,500 to 11,200 cal BP), Early Holocene (9500-9000 cal BP), and later periods. One of the excavated human burials (Feature 15-06), corresponding to a middle-aged female dated to ~8500 cal BP, exhibits skeletal osteoarthritic lesions previously proposed to reflect habitual loading and specialized crafting labor. Three small tools found in association with this burial are hypothesized to be associated with precise manual dexterity.

Materials and Methods: Here, we tested this functional hypothesis through the application of a novel multivariate methodology for the three-dimensional analysis of muscle attachment surfaces (entheses). This original approach has been recently validated on both lifelong-documented anthropological samples as well as experimental studies in non-human laboratory samples...