Human cranial variation in South America: Implications for the settlement of the New World

Human diversity in the New World deserves attention because of its paramount importance for the understanding of the peopling of the continent. In recent years, the study of this diversity has been directed to testing the ''Three Migration'' hypothesis (Turner II, In: Early Man in the New World, Sage Publications, 1983; Greenberg et al., Curr. Anthrop. 27: 477-497, 1986). Since this approach seems very restrictive, the present work intends to explore the diversity of cranial morphology in South America with no particular model as point of departure. We used uni, bi and multivariate methods to compare craniometric data of 502 individuals sorted out from representative pre-historic and historic collections all over the subcontinent. The results suggest the existence of two distinct morphological patterns, one of which linked to Paleo-Indians and another to archaic and horticulturalist populations. Even if one considers that local evolutionary forces or functional responses of the skull to environmental stresses could have caused the detected differences, the pattern of differentiation in time leads us to suggest the entrance of more than one migratory wave into South America.