Abstract

This paper studies the biological affinities between prehistoric peoples living along the coast and those settled in the Azapa Valley in northern Chile. The sample consisted of 245 skulls belonging to peoples of different archaeological periods (Late Archaic, Early Intermediate, Intermediate, Late Intermediate and Late). Applying different techniques of multivariate statistical analysis (biological distance, discriminant canonic analyses and cluster techniques) the biological relationship between Chinchorro, Alto Ramirez, El Laucho, Tiwanaku, Maytas, Cabuza, Gentilar, San Miguel and Inca were evaluated. The results show obvious differences between groups living on the coast and those living in the valley. The history of the settlement of Arica is interpreted as the result of two main settlement events, one linked with the establishment of coastal fishermen and the other with the development of agro-pastoralism, the latter becoming predominant in the later periods. Both groups have a common genetic origin in an ancestral archaic population and they gradually begin to differentiate in distinct environments due to evolutionary factors (systematic and aleatory).© 2007 Universidad de Tarapacá.