Do silica phytoliths really wear mammalian teeth?

There is considerable literature suggesting that silica (opal) phytoliths cause dental enamel microwear in mammals. Much of this literature cites a single study from 1959 as evidence that silica phytoliths are harder than mammalian tooth enamel and so have the potential to cause dental microwear. No other studies using similar methodology have actually confirmed whether phytoliths are harder than dental enamel.     

New methods for the identification of evidence for bitting on horse remains from archaeological sites

This article describes alterations to equid lower second premolars and diastemata from a series of known life history equids and a number of archaeological horse specimens from the British Iron Age. Two new methods for recording bit wear are proposed involving the analysis of the extent and morphology of enamel/dentine exposure on the anterior edge of LP2s and analysis of the extent of new bone formation and bone loss to the diastema of the mandible. It is suggested that when a bit is used on a horse it acts more frequently on the anterior margin of the LP2 than has previously been thought and that repeated contact between the bit and the LP2s and diastemata results in recognisable damage to these areas of the mouth.     

Dental Wear and Pathology in the Precolonial Caribbean: Evidence for Dietary Change in the Ceramic Age

This study investigates temporal changes in dietary practices in the Caribbean archipelago during the Ceramic Age (400 BC–AD 1500), through analyses of dental wear and pathology. Some previous studies in the region have suggested that diet and subsistence practices changed over time due to increasing sociopolitical complexity, climate change, or adaptation to island environments rich in marine resources. Both horticultural/agricultural intensification and increased marine focus of the diet over time have been posited, based among other things on faunal and botanical remains, and early ethnohistorical accounts. Local and micro‐regional stable isotope studies of temporal dietary variation have found few indications for change over time, and large regional isotope studies are still lacking. Dentitions from sites throughout the region dating to the Early Ceramic Age (400 BC–AD 600/800) and the Late Ceramic Age (AD 600/800–1500) were analysed in order to assess temporal differences. Intra‐individual rates of wear were calculated using the difference in degree of wear between the adjacent molars and the two groups were compared with principal axis analysis. Caries, antemortem tooth loss, abscesses and dental calculus were recorded per individual and per tooth/socket, and population caries and antemortem tooth loss rates were assessed and compared by age group, tooth class and sex. Comparisons between the two occupation periods revealed significant differences in the rate of dental wear and pathology, indicating a shift in dietary practices over time, coinciding with known social changes. The increase in pathology rates suggests a rise in the consumption of cariogenic foods or preparation techniques that increase cariogenicity. The decrease in rate of wear over time indicates a reduction in abrasivity of the diet. Together these data suggest that there was a growing focus on refined, cariogenic foods, likely horticultural/agricultural produce. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Recording dental caries in archaeological human remains

Dental caries is an important condition to record in archaeological collections, but the way in which recording is carried out has a large effect on the way in which the results can be interpreted. In living populations, dental caries is a disease that shows a strong relationship with age. Both the nature of carious lesions and their frequency change with successive age groups from childhood to elderly adulthood. There is also a progression in the particular teeth in the dentition which are most commonly affected and, in general, the molars and premolars are involved much more frequently than the canines and incisors. Lower teeth are usually affected more than upper, although the condition usually involves the right and left sides fairly equally. In the high tooth wear rate populations represented by many archaeological and museum collections, there is a complex relationship between the form of lesions and the state of wear, which adds yet another range of factors to the changing pattern of caries with increasing age. In the same populations, chipping, fracture and anomalous abrasion of teeth are also common, and these contribute similarly to the distribution and forms of carious lesion observed. Amongst the living, the pattern of ante‐mortem tooth loss is important in understanding caries and, in archaeological material, there is also the complicating factor of post‐mortem tooth loss. Finally, there is the question of diagnosis. There are diagnostic problems even in epidemiological studies of living patients and, for archaeological specimens, diagenetic change and the variable preservation of different parts of the dentition add further complications. For all these reasons, it is difficult to define any one general index of dental caries to represent the complete dentition of each individual, which would be universally suitable for studying a full range of collections from archaeological sites or museums. Variation in the nature of collections, their preservation, tooth wear, and ante‐mortem and post‐mortem tooth loss mean that when such a general index appears to differ between sites, there could be many other reasons for this, in addition to any genuine differences in caries incidence and pattern that might have been present. It is suggested here that the best approach is instead to make comparisons separately for each tooth type, age group, sex, lesion type and potential lesion site on the tooth. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Testing the ‘Laacher See hypothesis’: tephra as dental abrasive

In a series of recent studies, changes in material culture and settlement pattern in the Late Glacial of Northern Europe have been linked to the eruption of the Laacher See volcano. This eruption occurred c. 13,000 years ago towards the end of the Allerød chronozone. It is argued that the tephra fall-out from this eruption set in motion significant demographic fluctuations along the northern periphery of Late Glacial human settlement and that these led to a number of material culture transformations. In particular, the emergence of the regionally distinct techno-complexes with large tanged points – the Bromme culture in southern Scandinavia and the Perstunian culture in northeastern Europe – and the temporary abandonment of central European regions are thought to relate to this eruption. While numerous archaeological datasets are in accord with this ‘Laacher See hypothesis’, the forcing mechanism or mechanisms that brought about these archaeologically visible changes have remained largely unexplored. A particular challenge is to explain how some of the culture-historical effects of the Laacher See eruption seem to change or become more pronounced with distance from the eruptive centre. We here investigate one potential middle-range link between the Laacher See eruption and Late Glacial fauna and foragers: tephra as dental abrasive. We use instrumented nanoindentation to quantitatively investigate tephra from a number of sites covering the medial and distal fall-out zones as well as the dental enamel of Homo sapiens and key prey species of Late Glacial foragers. Our results show that the Laacher See tephra contained particles roughly twice as hard as even the hardest portions of any of the teeth investigated. We also suggest that fluoride-induced weakening of dental enamel may have further aggravated tooth wear. These mechanisms may have acted in concert to produce elevated levels of, in particular, animal mortality, which in turn may have led to an abandonment of the affected landscapes.     

Seasonality and intra-site variation of Neanderthal occupations in the Middle Palaeolithic locality of Payre (Ardèche,France) using dental wear analyses

The reconstruction of Palaeolithic subsistence and settlement systems at the Middle Palaeolithic site of Payre (France) is undertaken through the application of dental wear analyses combined to zooarchaeological, technological, and ecological indicators. Three archaeological levels were investigated. Level D, dated to MIS 5, could correspond to an occupation during the cold season. In levels G and F, dated to MIS 8-7, animals were probably hunted during a warmer season. According to dental wear analyses, it is likely that level F has actually recorded a succession of short occupations, contrary to what is observed in the levels G and D. Those differences in the duration of site occupation are discussed in the light of previous sedimentological, zooarchaeological, and technological studies.     

The combined use of oxygen isotopes and microwear in sheep teeth to elucidate seasonal management of domestic herds: the case study of Çatalhöyük,central Anatolia

This paper presents and tests a model designed to investigate how off-site herd management developed in settled pre-historic societies. The model is constructed from data collected from traditionally raised local sheep, acting as an interpretive link to published data. The modern comparator was small, but plausible results allow modelling of the archaeological data to be explored. Birth seasonality and herding location are identified through modelled patterns in oxygen isotope data in tooth enamel, and diet just before death by microwear in the same tooth. In combination, these allow aspects of seasonal management of breeding, fallow and slaughter herd sections to be interpreted. Novel practices are discussed in comparison local wild sheep ethology. The case study is Neolithic Çatalhöyük (7400–6200 cal BC) in central Anatolia. Its location provided the opportunity for different parts of the landscape to be used for herding, although choice might have been socially constrained. Data are taken from 72 specimens; the results suggest settlement-wide preference for a suite of practices that kept herds within a day of the settlement and that maintained breeding cycle synchrony with optimal resource availability. Chronological analysis suggests birth season manipulation was tried but rejected, whilst hay or cereal fodder was introduced and became increasingly important. It is argued that herding was probably on dedicated pasture on the arable fringes rather than in closer integration on ‘garden plots’, as there is no evidence of field-edge weed diets and little evidence of adjusting the birth season to accommodate the crop cycle.     

Para-masticatory wear facets and their functional significance in hunter–gatherer maxillary molars

The mastication of tough and hard foods combined with the extensive use of teeth as tools, have been considered possible antemortem causes in determining enamel microfractures of the tooth crown. This phenomenon, known as dental chipping, has been found in different fossil hominins and in several pre-historic and historic human populations who adopted different subsistence strategies. However, little is understood of the mechanism, function and the formation of dental chipping.     

Ground stone tool production and use in the Late Upper Palaeolithic: The evidence from Riparo Dalmeri (Venetian Prealps,Italy)

Abstract

The site of Riparo Dalmeri yielded numerous flint, bone, and shell artifacts, as well as faunal and botanical remains, which are evidence of the Late Upper Palaeolithic (or Late Epigravettian culture, ca. 16,000–12,000 cal b.p.) occupation of the Alps region. The importance of the site is related to the discovery of 267 stones painted with anthropomorphic, zoomorphic, and geometric designs. Here we report on ground stone tools from Riparo Dalmeri investigated by means of an integrated technofunctional and experimental approach to reconstruct their production and use. The results support the hypothesis that the ground stone artifacts were employed in specialized activities (e.g., hide treatment, flintknapping) as well as in the production of some of the painted stone artifacts.     

Comparative Macroscopic and Microscopic Gunflint Use-Wear Analysis

ABSTRACT

The present research is focused on a morphological and microscopic comparative analysis of the gunflints of the fur trade component of the Horseshoe Bay site (21CA201), Leech Lake, Cass County, Minnesota. Background information pertaining to the Horseshoe Bay site is followed by the research methodologies utilized in the current analysis of the gunflints. Morphological and microscopic patterns of use wear have identified two different functions for gunflints. The results of the analysis indicate that (1) gunflints can potentially retain use-wear associated ferric depositions for an extended period of time; (2) the ferric depositions retained on archaeologically recovered gunflints display diagnostic striation patterns and microspherule attachment remnants that match replicated samples; (3) gunflints utilized for fire starting in conjunction with a fire steel display morphological characteristics that can be visually identified; and (4) gunflints were utilized for the purposes of fire starting in northern Minnesota during the period circa 1784 to at least 1853.