Nasal fracture and interpersonal violence in continental Southern Patagonia during the Late Holocene

Abstract

Nasal fracture is the most common type of facial fracture in modern populations and is usually related to interpersonal violence. Nevertheless, this type of injury has been scarcely studied in bioanthropological field. In this study, it was characterized and discussed the oldest known Southern Patagonia individual presenting nasal fracture, among other lesions, most probably resulting from interpersonal violence. We reanalysed the individual 2 from Orejas de Burro 1 site dated from Late Holocene, the nasal fossae and other skull bones to study nasal fractures using a recent method developed by Magalhães et al. (2020). Orejas de Burro 1 -2- presented nine fractures, four of them in the nasal area and showing different timing: one postmortem, two perimortem, and one antemortem. The other facial lesions consisted of four diastatic fractures and one in the fragile septum. The individual presented a high-energy injury resulting in intense bone disruption and displacement of nasal and facial bones produced by a lateral blow, which may be related to an episode of interpersonal violence. While some likely options are regionally known, it is highly difficult to assess the cause of the injury and the blunt object associated with this episode since there is a situation of equifinality. This is the oldest known record case reported of a nasal fracture in Southern Patagonia and one of the oldest of South America. Also, it is the early evidence of traumatic injury, possibly due to an episode of interpersonal violence.

Keywords

• blunt force trauma
• facial fracture
• hunter-gatherers
• lateral impact force
• skull