Possible Case of SIrenomella in the Tumaco-Tolita Pottery Pre-Columbian Culture, 2000 Years Before the Epidemic Focus of Sirenomeiia in Cali-Colombia

摘要

We present a pottery sample from the Tumaco-Tolita culture close to 2,000 years old with a possible sirenomeiia that presents phenotypical features like fused lower limbs, probably constituting the oldest evidence of this disease in the pre-Hispanic Latin-American and past world.The Tumaco-Tolita culture inhabited the geo-historic region of the Pacific Colombo-Ecuadorian coast during the years 300 BCE to 600 CE (Fig. 1). This culture was characterized for depicting with impressive realism the different pathologies affecting their population. In their pottery work, they show evidence of genetic illnesses like Down syndrome and achondroplasia, congenital malformations, and health states like maternity, aging processes, and death [Bernal and Briceiio, 2006; Pachajoa et al., 2007].