Abstract

We report a severe osteoarthropathy in a body of a Chinchorro adult male exhumed from the pre-Hispanic site of Playa Miller 8, located in the city of Arica, on the northern coast of Chile. The advanced state of joint disease shows that the individual was cared by his social group, to be able to survive. This care was perpetuated in the postmortem treatment, applying red color to the body. Particular self-care social dynamics of Chinchorro society are inferred.