Anthropology 275       Reading Report 15
Disease in Prehistory       due 11/9-2007

Answer the following questions based on the paper by Arriaza B., A.M. Allison, and E. Gerszten. 1988. Maternal mortality in pre-Columbian Indians of Arica, Chile. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 77:35-41.

1. Describe in some detail the indicators of childbirth-complicated death observed in Chilean mummies.
2. What proportion of females with childbirth-complicated death died without complete delivery?
3. How did the frequency of childbirth-complicated death change with time? (from 1300 BC to AD 600)
4. Which cultural practices related to birth could have contributed to the high rates of childbirth-complicated death in Arica?