The early lives of the islanders: Stable isotope analysis of incremental dentine collagen from the prehispanic period of the Canary Islands.

Objectives: This study presents isotopic information for incremental dentine collagen and bone bulk collagen from individuals from the Canary Islands (Tenerife and Gran Canaria) to explore dietary differences during childhood life.

Materials And Methods: Eight individuals have been studied, which comprises 122 δ N and δ C incremental dentine measurements and eight bulk bone collagen analyses. A baseline of potentially consumed food sources has been developed for comparative purposes.

Exploring the risks accompanying child-bearing in aboriginal society on Gran Canaria (Canary Islands, 13-15 cal. CE): death of a pregnant woman during her third trimester.

In the pre-Hispanic necropolis of Juan Primo, northwest Gran Canaria (Canary Islands, Spain) a grave was found containing a 20-25 year-old woman with a foetus in her abdominal region, whose age at death was estimated at 33-35 weeks of gestation. The purpose of this study is to discuss the possible cause of death of the woman and foetus. Skeletons of both individuals were well preserved, permitting a good record of the bones found in the burial, which is compatible with a pregnancy at preterm.

Mitogenomes illuminate the origin and migration patterns of the indigenous people of the Canary Islands.

The Canary Islands' indigenous people have been the subject of substantial archaeological, anthropological, linguistic and genetic research pointing to a most probable North African Berber source. However, neither agreement about the exact point of origin nor a model for the indigenous colonization of the islands has been established. To shed light on these questions, we analyzed 48 ancient mitogenomes from 25 archaeological sites from the seven main islands.