Hi Science Daily Online ! Before reading the article we would like you to know a new way to discover our curious world, through Youtube ! We have a channel that we would love to be a part of.You can subscribe and meet him here-> YouTube Science Daily Online!
Polydactyly and ectrodactyly are disorders genetics that cause you to be born with more or less fingers on feet and hands.In the case of polydactyly, the additional finger is usually incomplete and nowadays it can be removed surgically without major problems.
But 500 years ago having been born with 6 fingers on each foot might have been an advantage, if your place of birth had been America.
6 fingers on each foot: this is how pre-Columbian cultures would treat you
An article recently published in the American Antiquity magazine, about an archeological investigation in the Chaco canon, New Mexico, has confirmed the theory about the preeminence given by the indigenous people to the people who had six fingers and toes.
The prehistoric culture of the people It was developed in the southwestern region of the United States for about 2,000 years and, like the Maya, it could have collapsed between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries, before the arrival of the Spaniards.The mentioned study was conducted in a settlement currently known as Pueblo Bonito , the most important archaeological site in the Chaco canyon.
There they found hand prints with polydactyly, as well as ceramic sandals with adaptations for an additional finger on the feet .In fact, in the graves where there were skeletons with six toes, they found ornaments and turquoise objects, which indicated a certain hierarchy or notoriety .
For the Maya, people with polydactyly were beings connected with the divinity , considered sacred, but it does not seem to have been this is the case of the people, although apparently they enjoyed privileges and a high position in the hierarchy of this society.
The archaeologists analyzed 96 bodies found in the Pueblo site Nice, detecting at least 3 subjects with 6 fingers on each foot.This would be equivalent to a percentage of polydactyly cases of 3.1%, a high rate if we consider that this disorder usually occurs in 1 of each 500 children (with a higher incidence among the Amish and Afro-descendants), but that it is not possible to generalize to the entire village culture until further studies are carried out.
Pueblo Bonito site prospered between 850 and 1250, it was an important ceremonial, commercial and political center, they worked the sandstone and made constructions at least in 15 points, which were the largest in North America until the 19th century., made up of about 40,000 inhabitants, descend from the anasazi , who prospered between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries, and it is not clear if these in turn descended from the culture that preceded them, with everything and their six toes on each foot.
Interesting, right? In this same line we recommend The elongated skulls of the Paraca culture, and Why Rafael painted 6 fingers to some of his characters.
Images: saf2285, Golan Levin, jb10okie, Commons Wikimedia
Comments
Post a Comment