Asymmetric faces: Symbolic, spiritual, and representative

In humans, physically attractive faces are measurably, though subtly, asymmetric. As asymmetry increases, it has a negative impact. Medically, asymmetry can be congenital or acquired. Symbolically, it has varied connotations from playfulness and complexity to despair and corruption. In Chinese opera, stylized make-up exaggerates the features, and aspects of the "mask" indicate qualities of the character. The asymmetric faces belong to characters who are corrupt, devious, or evil. In the Dan culture of western Africa, performance masks channel spirits in the community. A spirit with asymmetric facial mask exemplifies ugliness and moral failing. The Nasca culture of South America made generic figures of farmers, deities, and so on, but not of individuals. However, there is evidence of mutual influence between the Nasca and the Wari, with whom they traded. A clay figure apparently representing an individual, or at least a very specific recognized persona, is a ball player with facial asymmetry presumably due to injury. Here the message is one of fierceness and strength. The relative rarity of asymmetric facial depictions compared to symmetric ones is cross-cultural. This implies that asymmetry is special somehow, in all connotations of that term.

Advances in regional paleopathology of the Southern Coast of the Central Andes

Because of a rich cultural history and excellent preservation of archaeological materials the south coast of the Central Andes is a region where many anthropological questions can be explored, using the latest methods and techniques. Over the last 20 years, multidisciplinary paleopathological studies have revealed interesting and unanticipated perspectives regarding the lives and cultures of the peoples who inhabited this region in pre-Hispanic times. This paper presents a panorama of these recent investigations, beginning with a review of the data sources - the collections of human remains - available for study, their numbers, preservation, accessibility, strengths and weaknesses. Then follows a revision of recent investigations, presenting new knowledge about temporal trends in human health in the region, including mortality curves, stature achieved in adulthood, porotic hyperososis, cribra orbitalia, linear enamel hypoplasias, dental caries, biochemical analysis, trauma, and violence. This review shows how the knowledge of the history of this region has increased but also the many new questions that have emerged. Hopefully this paper will encourage more investigation, as the collections of human remains from this region are abundant, well documented and well preserved.