title: Genetic and other diseases in the pottery of Tumaco-La Tolita culture in Colombia-Ecuador.
abstract: The people of Tumaco-La Tolita culture inhabited the borders of present-day Colombia and Ecuador. Already extinct by the time of the Spaniards arrival, they left a huge collection of pottery artifacts depicting everyday life; among these, disease representations were frequently crafted. In this article, we present the results of the personal examination of the largest collections of Tumaco-La Tolita pottery in Colombia and Ecuador; cases of Down syndrome, achondroplasia, mucopolysaccharidosis I H, mucopolysaccharidosis IV, a tumor of the face and a benign tumor in an old woman were found. We believe these to be among the earliest artistic representations of disease.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Genética Humana, Facultad de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá, Colombia. jebernal@javeriana.edu.co
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Bernal
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Briceno
mesh_terms: D003105:Colombia; D003469:Culture; D004484:Ecuador; D030342:Genetic Diseases, Inborn / Q000208:ethnology / Q000266:history*; D049690:History, Ancient; D006801:Humans