Physical violence and social conflict have been widely studied in the ancient societies of the Andes. However, studies about violence are scarce for the Formative period of northern Chile (1000 BC–AD 900). Evidence from these investigations is generally interpreted as interpersonal violence, whose protagonists are mostly men. Here, we present the case of an adult female recovered from the Tarapacá 40 cemetery (Tarapacá region, Chile) displaying lesions suggestive of trauma. We reconstruct her life and death in the context of this era's social and political conditions. Results of our bioanthropological characterization, cranial trauma analysis, carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis, and recording of the funerary offerings suggest she was a local member of the Formative community buried in the Tarapacá 40 cemetery and that she suffered intentional lethal lesions. Her death is unusual because there are no previous bioarchaeological records of lethal violence against women in the Tarapacá region. The osteobiography of this woman reflects a context characterized by an increase in inequality and social complexity, whereby physical violence could be used as a mechanism of internal regulation and exercise of power during the Formative period.

We report the results of bioarchaeological, genetic, malacological, and lithic analyses of a burial located in the Calamuchita Valley in the province of Córdoba in central Argentina. We discuss these findings from an osteobiographical perspective that considers the physical body from three spheres of analysis: biological, social, and political. The skeletal remains correspond to an adult male who died 3770 ± 90 14C years BP (4404–3850 cal BP). His mitochondrial lineage A2+16192-16248 could have originated in central Argentina; this lineage subsequently became extinct in modern populations. In association with the human bones, there were two lithic tools, ornamental shells, and a stone pendant arranged as a necklace. This type of context is infrequently found in the region and the period studied. Thus, this burial represents a rare and relevant record for regional and South American archaeology, providing the oldest direct evidence of a burial with grave goods in hunter-gatherer societies of the province of Córdoba, central region of Argentina.