Abstract
Homo sapiens colonized the Americas via the Bering land bridge, likely at the onset of the Last Glacial Maximum. Once arrived in South America, populations moved further south colonizing the Andean region, while others expanded toward and along the Atlantic coast. Some groups adapted to the coastal environment, developing a hunter-gatherer economy dependent on marine resources (‘Coastal Tradition’). Others, towards the interland, adapted to the large variety of natural habitats. Specifically, some groups dwelled in the tropical lowlands and the Brazilian Planalto Highlands (“Itararé-Taquara Archaeological Complex”), others in the Pampas plains (“Vieira Tradition”), and others in the rivers’ wetlands of the Plata basin ("Complex hunter-gatherers of the Lower Paraná wetland"). Their economies, mainly linked to the low residence mobility that induced a high degree of density-dependent human adaptations and an exploitation of the local environment, were highly diversified and included ancillary proto-horticulture. Moreover, social organization were structured in different ways, including small groups of egalitarian hunter-gatherers, societies with incipient horticulture immersed in a process of social complexity, and agricultural societies with social hierarchies and institutionalized inequality, increasing the variability of cultural habits. However, while information about population dynamics is available, the life-styles, life-histories, landscape uses and mobility patterns of these latter groups need to be investigated to understand how hunter-gatherers adapted to the South America habitats. The HABITS project will focus on a space-time frame constrained to southeastern South America during the late Holocene to decrypt the organizational forms and the wide spectrum of human-environment interactions. A multi-methodological interdisciplinary framework, including bio-archaeological, isotopic and proteomic analyses on human (and faunal) skeletal remains together with development of bioavailable isoscape maps, will be developed. Specifically, morphological and morphometric analyses as well as non-metric dental traits will be employed as a proxy for genetic diversity (WP1). Proteins of enamel tissue, combined with strontium, oxygen and carbon isotopes of tooth enamel apatite will be used to decipher the sex of bad-preserved individuals (WP1) as well as key in understanding subsistence, mobility and landscape use of these individuals, but also their territorial sharing and interactions (WP2). High-resolution carbon and nitrogen analyses of incremental dentine samples and the trace elemental profile of tooth enamel will disclose their trophic niche and the time and mode of weaning in the different populations (WP3).
Results achieved
The HABITS project investigated lifeways, mobility, health and human–environment interactions of pre-Columbian populations in southern Brazil, the Paraná wetlands, western Uruguay and the adjacent Pampas. It examined how hunter-gatherers, Sambaqui communities and Guaraní horticulturalists adapted to contrasting environments through osteoarchaeology, dental anthropology, palaeopathology, morphometrics, radiocarbon dating, palaeoproteomics, ancient DNA, isotope geochemistry, dental histology and trace-element analysis. Two units delivered the project. UNIMORE, led by PI Tommaso Giovanardi, directed field sampling, isotope and trace-element analyses, amelogenin-based sex estimation and random-forest isoscape modelling. Cinzia Scaggion contributed to sampling, laboratory work and model development. UNIBO, coordinated by co-PI Eugenio Bortolini at the BONES Lab, led osteology, dental analysis, palaeopathology, histology, geometric morphometrics and preparation for isotopic, proteomic, radiocarbon and genomic analyses. Postdoctoral researchers for each unit undertook fieldwork, data collection and laboratory research. The Universities of Florence and Salento, CONICET and Brazilian institutions added ancient-DNA, radiocarbon and local archaeological expertise. At Encosta da Lagoa, a Sambaqui assemblage dated to 4,000–3,000 BP, 37 individuals and 449 teeth were analysed. Caries, abscesses and antemortem tooth loss were uncommon, but over half of the teeth showed marked occlusal wear; trauma was rare, while degenerative joint disease was widespread, particularly in the spine. CT-based 3D modelling refined analysis of cranial variation and sexual dimorphism. Dental macro- and microwear identified multidirectional, non-masticatory use, including tembetá-related patterns. Amelogenin proteomics determined sex in 90 individuals, radiocarbon dating covered 36 specimens from 32 sites, and about 60 individuals were sampled for ancient DNA. Three field campaigns produced 342 modern plant samples across about 122,500 km² in central Argentina and western Uruguay and 370,000 km² in southern Brazil, underpinning regional and continental strontium isoscapes. Strontium was measured in 109 human teeth, 99 archaeological faunal specimens and four modern animals. The models improved provenance resolution and showed that camelids in the Paraná–Plata lowlands were not domesticated animals brought by Andean caravans; wild camelids were instead acquired through hunting and exchange across the Pampas–wetland ecotone. Dental histology and trace-element profiles showed dietary transition at around one year in both hunter-gatherer and Guaraní infants. Hunter-gatherers experienced greater subsequent dietary variability and stress, whereas Guaraní profiles were more stable. The publication record reflects these advances. Loponte et al. (2025), in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, rejected the Andean-caravan hypothesis and reconstructed regional hunting and exchange systems. Scaggion et al. (2025), in PLOS ONE, published the random-forest strontium isoscape for central-eastern Argentina and western Uruguay, including a Guaraní provenance case study from Arroyo Fredes. A paper submitted to Earth System Science Data extends this framework to southern Brazil and the continent; its database and raster files are available on Zenodo. Bianchi et al. submitted a Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports paper identifying microscopic dental signatures of tembetá use in Guaraní individuals. Further manuscripts address Late Holocene demographic dynamics, population structure and sex estimation at Encosta da Lagoa, regional mobility and comparative weaning practices. HABITS delivered an integrated bioarchaeological and geochemical dataset, reusable open-access models, and a durable Italy–South America scientific network.Project details
Unibo Team Leader: Eugenio Bortolini
Unibo involved Department/s:
Dipartimento di Beni Culturali
Coordinator:
Università degli studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia - UNIMORE(Italy)
Total Eu Contribution: Euro (EUR) 208.334,00
Total Unibo Contribution: Euro (EUR) 103.120,00
Project Duration in months: 24
Start Date:
28/09/2023
End Date:
28/02/2026
