Abstract

The sacralization of the fifth lumbar vertebra corresponds to a pathology scarcely reported in the bioar-chaeological literature for the northern populations of Chile. In this paper, two cases observed in pre-Hispanic groups of the desert coast of the Antofagasta region are presented, which are both spatially and chronologically distant from each other, and one of them corresponds to the earliest case of this anomaly reported for northern Chile. The diagnosis of this condition was made through discriminating morphological criteria that allowed the classification of form and orientation of the pathological features observed. Considering the association between the manifestation of this pathology and genetic factors, together with the historical description of the marriage alliances forged by the inhabitants of the study area at the time of indigenous-Hispanic contact, we explored the possibility that its manifestation could be the result of endogamic social practices. The latter might have been limited to the coastal area and were traditionally maintained at least until historical times.