Craniometric patterning within ancient Peru

Abstract

Numerous studies have used the Howells Peruvian sample from the province of Yauyos as the morphological representative for South America. Although Peru has a rich history of investigations of human skeletal remains, biological distance studies based on craniometrics are limited to nonexistent. This study examines the morphological variation found in Peru using the Howells sample and three additional coastal (Makatampu and Ancón) and highland (Cajamarca) samples. The between-group variation and the degree of among-group differentiation were tested using a canonical discriminant analysis and Mahalanobis D2, respectively. All groups are significantly different from the Yauyos sample and results indicate a closer morphological affinity between coastal groups and the two highland groups. Copyright ©2008 by the Society for American Archaeology.