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![Marked anterior wear on individual from Gillman Mound. [Color figure can be viewed in the online issue, which is available at wileyonlinelibrary.com.]](profile/Judith-Littleton/publication/256378119/figure/fig7/AS:281688316891136@1444171136219/Marked-anterior-wear-on-individual-from-Gillman-Mound-Color-figure-can-be-viewed-in-the.png)
Marked anterior wear on individual from Gillman Mound. [Color figure can be viewed in the online issue, which is available at wileyonlinelibrary.com.]
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Often it is assumed that hunter-gatherer dentitions are dominated by heavy attrition. Recent analyses, however, have shown unexpected variability in the pattern of wear between groups. It had been previously noted that wear differed between neighboring groups on the Murray River, Australia. This analysis extends that geographic scope as well as foc...
Context in source publication
Context 1
... expected, teeth with extensive dentine exposure were observed in all of the samples. Based on the maxi- mum degree of wear within the maxillae and mandibles, most young adult dentitions from Gillman had only a thin marginal rim of enamel on their first molar (Table 4). All older mandibles and maxillae from Gillman had teeth at this stage of wear (Fig. 3). Wear was less advanced among the Yorke Peninsula. The ultimate stage of wear (tooth roots functional only) was not observed among the sample. Comparisons by age could not be made for the other samples from the ...
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Background:
Erosive tooth wear (ETW) is clinically characterized by a loss of tooth surface, and different enamel depths may have different susceptibility to demineralization. Therefore, the aim of this in vitro pilot study was to assess if the progression of erosive demineralization is faster on teeth already presenting signs of ETW when compared...
Citations
... We describe and explain these limitations in "Discussion". The second of two scales of dentine exposure in the occlusal surface of the crown of the permanent molars is commonly considered as more precise than the first, mentioned above, and universally used in the sense of being applicable to archaeological/historical human populations derived from geographically different areas, e.g., [62][63][64][65][66][67]. However, it is important to note that in our study these two scales were not used to assess the age at death of the examined specimens, but only to obtain the data about the stages of the wear of the crowns of the examined molars. ...
... This means that the diet of these two groups of individuals may have differed primarily in terms of food hardness. Thus we can assume the presence of high abrasiveness of Australian hunter-gatherers' diet-higher in comparison to the diet of Africans (see e.g., [62,95,[100][101][102][103]. Unfortunately, we did not have detailed information on the diet of these two groups of examined individuals; in this study, the angle of course of the occlusal wear plane of the examined molars was not analyzed. ...
... Unfortunately, we did not have detailed information on the diet of these two groups of examined individuals; in this study, the angle of course of the occlusal wear plane of the examined molars was not analyzed. It should also be noted that, in the case of the Australian sub-sample, it included crania of individuals from different areas of Australia (see [51]), which could be related to the greater diversity of their diet compared to individuals representing one population living in one specific area of Australia (see, e.g., [62]). In order to avoid large discrepancies between the actual TOCA value of the teeth examined in this study and the original value of this feature the molars with a very severe degree of crown wear were excluded from the analysis. ...
The aim of this study was to establish whether there is a significant relationship between the total occlusal area (TOCA) of two types of permanent upper molars (first—M1 and second—M2) and facial robusticity, as well as which of the examined facial regions indicate a relationship concerning the grade of their massiveness with the TOCA of analyzed molars in different sex adult Homo sapiens cranial samples. To obtain the values of the TOCA of the molars (n = 145), a morphometric method was performed based on the calibrated digital images of their occlusal surface using ImageJ software. The grades of the massiveness of six facial regions were assessed using qualitative scales of their expression, and an index of general facial robusticity was calculated. Two types of analyses were performed concerning standardized and non-standardized traits to the facial size, including Spearman’s/or Pearson’s correlations and partial rank correlations. The obtained results indicated the presence of a positive relationship between the relative TOCA of M2s and the relative general facial robusticity, as well as between the TOCA of both types of molars and the massiveness of trigone region of the facial skeleton in male crania. However, most of the obtained results were not consistent with the assumptions of the “localized masticatory stress hypothesis”.
... A comparative approach to occlusal wear will address the timing of the AMTL during life and whether occlusal wear contributed to AMTL. The first approach uses a modified version of the Scott (1979) occlusal wear scoring system (Littleton et al., 2013) to assess wear in teeth adjacent (i.e., the in situ left I 1 ) to the antemortem missing right I 1 and first molars in the same jaw, since the severity of wear on teeth adjacent to AMTL can be used to discriminate between AMTL due to extreme wear and intentional ablation (Durband et al., 2014). A wear index (tooth adjacent to AMTL / M 1 x 100) is used to compare the value for Ohalo 2 to published values from Roonka (Holocene foragers from South Australia with high prevalence of ablation: Durband et al., 2014). ...
... The Ohalo 2 occlusal wear (following Littleton et al., 2013) for the left I 1 , the tooth adjacent to the antemortem lost right I 1 , is scored as a 7 relative to the average of both M 1 s which is 8.5. The wear index is 82.4, ...
Objective: To describe the oral pathological conditions of Ohalo II H2, an Early Epipaleolithic human from southwest Asia.
Materials: The dentognathic skeleton of Ohalo II H2 and relevant comparative data from similar chronological and/or geographic contexts.
Methods: Gross and x-ray observations of oral pathological conditions and occlusal wear were made following published protocols. A differential diagnosis of antemortem tooth loss is provided.
Results: Ohalo 2 has two carious lesions on the right M3 , pulpal exposure of left M1 , and mild to moderate anterior alveolar bone loss. The right I1 was lost antemortem, and there is probably agenesis of the left M3.
Conclusions: The pathological conditions noted are not exceptional for a Late Upper Paleolithic forager. However, the antemortem missing right I1 is most parsimoniously explained by intentional dental ablation.
Significance: Ohalo 2 could represent the oldest example of dental ablation from the Late Pleistocene circum-Mediterranean world-predating the earliest examples from both North Africa and southwest Asia by several thousand years. The similarity of the Ohalo 2 ablation pattern with later Natufians provides further evidence of potential long-term behavioral trends related to the embodiment of social identities through international body modification within the Epipaleolithic of southwest Asia.
Limitations: The pre-Natufian (∼23,000-14,500 cal BP) human fossil record is relatively sparse, making comparisons with the Natufian (∼14,500−11,500 cal BP) phases of the Epipaleolithic difficult.
Suggestions for Further Research: Documentation of oral pathological conditions for other pre-Natufian fossils would provide greater resolution of the temporospatial patterning of oral health and embodied social identities during the Epipaleolithic of southwest Asia.
... A 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 grading system has been developed to quantitate the degree of wear [2]. Recently, variation in the patterns of dental attrition among different groups suggests that the type of wear may have been influenced by different social and economic practices [7]. Removal of the upper central incisors, or "tooth knocking", is found in groups from all over Australia and was practiced for thousands of years, being present in a 7000-year-old skull from Lake Nitchie [6]. ...
... Tooth microwear analysis in four hunter-gatherer groups from four different regions of Murray River, Australia has shown that though the overall severity of wear was uniform, there were differential wear patterns in different teeth in different groups and many were genderspecific. They were non-masticatory in nature (Littleton et al 2013). Though, ethnographic studies give important insights into the masticatory and non-masticatory use of teeth, the ecological, cultural and behavioural context of ancient humans is far removed from the current context to yield much information by direct comparison. ...
The path of human evolution has always been a topic of contentious discussion for researchers worldwide. Many theories were proposed to explain the phenomenon based on meagre physical evidences available. Interpretations about subsistence strategies of hominins and their descendents had to be derived from scanty biological remains which mostly consisted of random presence of teeth and fragments of cranial and post-cranial skeleton. Due to better preservation and good resistance to diagenesis, owing to tough enamel covering, teeth have been exploited the most in archaeological studies. Tooth wear analysis is a powerful tool to understand the diet and life processes of ancient people. This paper reviews technical and interpretative development in the use of tooth wear analysis as powerful means to assess changes in masticatory and non-masticatory use of teeth in the process of human evolution. Apart from determination of type and form of diet consumed, tooth wear analysis has been used to estimate masticatory load and its relation to cranio-facial development, age of weaning, use of teeth as a ‘third hand’. Though this method is widely adopted by researchers all over the globe, in the Indian archaeological context, such studies are few and far between. The potential of tooth wear analysis in Indian archaeological arena needs to be tapped for better understanding of ancient humans.
... Marked wearing down of the teeth is caused by clamping and chewing of material during domestic craft activities and the mastication of unrefined food [11,12]. Absence of the upper central incisors arose from ritual tooth avulsion [13,14]. ...
... Historically Australian Aboriginal people are characterized as experiencing severe and rapid dental wear often seen as characteristic of hunter-gatherer populations more generally (Barrett, 1953;Campbell & Barrett, 1953). Further work has identified regional differences in the rate and patterning of wear between different groups (Littleton, Scott, McFarlane, & Walshe, 2013;Molnar, Richards, McKee, & Molnar, 1989;Richards, 1984). However, the focus on wear has meant that there has been little analysis of dental pathology either in terms of its relationship to wear or in relation to regional patterning. ...
Objectives:
Studies of hunter-gatherer oral pathology, particularly in Australia, often focus upon dental wear and caries or assume that historic studies of Aboriginal people reflect the precontact past. Consequently the range of population variation has been underestimated. In this paper dental pathology from human remains from Roonka are compared with a model of dental pathology derived from historic studies. The aim is to identify aspects of dental pathology indicative of regional or intra-population diversity.
Methods:
Adult dentitions (n = 115) dating from the mid to late Holocene were recorded for the following conditions: dental wear, caries, periapical voids, calculus, periodontal disease and antemortem tooth loss. Statistical analysis was used to identify patterns of dental pathology and to identify causal relationships between conditions.
Results:
Dental wear is marked while dental caries rates are extremely low. Other indications of dental pathology are uncommon (<7% of teeth affected). Temporal heterogeneity is apparent: there are 3 young adults with caries who died in the postcontact period. There is also a small group of middle age to old adults with disproportionate abscessing and pulp exposure who may represent temporal variation or heterogeneity in individual frailty.
Conclusions:
The results confirm dental wear as the major cause of dental pathology in this group and that, at a general level, historic accounts do correspond with this archeological sample. However, intra-sample heterogeneity is apparent while 2 dental conditions, calculus and periodontal disease, along with the pattern of sex differences deviate from expectation, demonstrating that to identify regional variation attention needs to be paid to the dentoalveolar complex as a whole.
... The degree of wear on each dental member is largely dependent upon its timing of eruption into occlusion (Hillson, 2002). However, several authors also note heavier wear across the anterior teeth among foraging populations, which is often attributed to differential loadings associated with habitual application of heavy forces due to non-masticatory use of the front teeth, such as for tools or for grasping Clement, Hillson, & Aiello, 2012;Littleton, Scott, McFarlane, & Walshe, 2013;Mayhall & Kanazawa, 1989;Miles, 2001;Molnar, 2008;Reinhardt, 1983). Sciulli (1997) identified three 'dental cultural ecological environments' based on a study of temporal patterns of tooth wear (and dental pathology) among 40 prehistoric samples from the upper Ohio River Valley. ...
... The degree of relative occlusal surface wear was measured by comparing wear scores in all teeth relative to the wear score of the first molar in each jaw (e.g., LI1/LM1*100) to control for the timing and sequence of eruption Littleton et al., 2013). measured the percentage of dentin exposure of teeth and referred to this as the "wear ratio" as it reflects the effect that eruption sequence has on exposure to wear. ...
... Archaic Period in the Lake Titicaca Basin. Both absolute and relative wear was greater on anterior teeth than posterior teeth in the SMP sample and resembles dedicated foraging groups such as Australian Aborigines and Inuit Littleton et al., 2013). Molar wear rates and angle were similar to those observed in Smith's (1984) global sample of foragers. ...
Objectives:
The objective of this work is to characterize dental wear in a skeletal sample dating to the Middle/Late Archaic period transition (8,000-6,700 cal. B.P.) from the Lake Titicaca Basin, Peru to better define subsistence behaviors of foragers prior to incipient sedentism and food production.
Materials and methods:
The dental sample consists of 251 teeth from 11 individuals recovered from the site of Soro Mik'aya Patjxa (SMP), the earliest securely dated burial assemblage in the Lake Titicaca Basin and the only burial assemblage in the region from an unequivocal forager context. Occlusal surface wear was quantified according to Smith (1984) and Scott (1979a) to characterize diversity within the site and to facilitate comparison with other foraging groups worldwide. General linear modeling was used to assess observation error and principal axis analysis was used to compare molar wear rates and angles. Teeth were also examined for caries and specialized wear.
Results:
Occlusal surface attrition is generally heavy across the dental arcade and tends to be flat among posterior teeth. Only one carious lesion was observed. Five of the 11 individuals exhibit lingual surface attrition of the maxillary anterior teeth (LSAMAT).
Discussion:
Tooth wear rates, molar wear plane, and caries rates are consistent with terrestrial foraging and a diverse diet. The presence of LSAMAT indicates tuber processing. The results therefore contribute critical new data toward our understanding of forager diet in the Altiplano prior to plant and animal domestication in the south-central Andes.
... For example, recent analysis of tooth wear among Aboriginal groups on the Murray River, Australia, revealed much greater constraint in the variability of anterior wear among females from Euston. Dental wear patterns suggest that while male activities were varied, female activities were not, possibly reflecting a shared emphasis on the processing of particular foods (e.g., bulrush) as part of women's work (Littleton, Scott, McFarlane, & Walshe, 2013). Assessing age-related differences is more complicated since basic occlusal relationships change as wear progresses through adulthood. ...
... Smith (1984), however, started to examine the transfer of wear across teeth characterizing the differences in occlusal loading between hunter-gatherers and agriculturalists as well as the development of a helicoidal plane (Smith, 1986). Gradients of wear relative to the first molar have more recently been studied in order to examine not just molar wear (e.g., Watson, Arriaza, Standen, & Muñoz Ovalle, 2013) but also patterns of usage of the anterior teeth and premolars (Clement, Hillson, de la Torre, & Townsend, 2009;Clement and Hillson, 2012;Deter, 2009;Littleton et al., 2013). Wear on the anterior dentition can reflect nonalimentary use of the teeth and provides, therefore, a useful insight into the patterning of activity between and within groups. ...
... Wear on the anterior dentition can reflect nonalimentary use of the teeth and provides, therefore, a useful insight into the patterning of activity between and within groups. In addition, if it is assumed that if wear progresses on individual teeth at a regular rate then it is possible to compare groups for whom sample sizes are too small to consider ages separately or where age was not assessed (Clement et al., 2009;Littleton et al., 2013). ...
Objectives:
In many hunter-gatherer populations, the teeth are used as a third hand or a tool. Much attention has been paid to wear and its relationship to gendered division of labor, but age is also a significant organizing factor in many societies. In this article, I analyze whether the pattern of wear at Roonka, Australia, reflects the age-graded acquisition of tasks.
Materials and methods:
The remains analyzed come from Roonka and date from c6000 BP to 150 BP. In total 126 adults and juveniles were analyzed. Wear gradients were calculated for each tooth relative to wear on the first molar. Data were compared using nonparametric statistics and cluster analysis to assess the degree of patterning within the sample.
Results:
Dental wear proceeded rapidly. There is no evidence of sex differences in the pattern of wear. Age differences do occur. While disproportionate anterior wear occurs among juveniles and young adults, by middle adulthood the pattern is less variable and involves the premolars. Old adults have a much flatter pattern of wear.
Discussion:
The pattern of wear is consistent with ethnographic observations, which suggest a degree of latitude in the activities of juveniles and young adults. By middle age variability between individuals declines reflecting shared tasks and more intensive use of the teeth. The pattern of wear amongst old adults, however, is much flatter presumably due to changes in occlusion. While dental wear is informative about the organization of labor there is a need to take into account both patterns of activity and occlusion.
... Dental microwear analyses investigates the microscopic patterns left on enamel during eating or from extramasticatory use, for example using the teeth as a 'third-hand' or as a "tool", for example to strip off the outer layer of fibrous plants (Hillson, 2005;Littleton et al., 2013;Molnar, 2011). These can leave different patterns of macro-and microwear that can affect different teeth or tooth surfaces. ...
This paper provides a theoretical review and a framework of methods for using dental microwear analysis on deciduous teeth to investigate weaning processes from archaeological remains, and provides an approach to assess changes in food consumption during weaning. We review the process of weaning, which can be informative of subsistence transitions, maternal labour, demographic factors including birth spacing and infant health, and highlight the relationships between weaning, immune status, and exposure to pathogens. Prior microwear research has largely focused on adults necessitating consideration of the methods concerning deciduous teeth. Microwear can be used to discern between the consistency and fracture properties of food as enamel is removed during mastication, and is influenced by how food is prepared (for example premasticated, raw, cooked). As such, microwear provides a direct way to explore the introduction of complementary foods during weaning. A conceptual model of the potential confounders of assessing microwear in deciduous teeth including tooth biology, bite force, and the development of oral mechanics is presented. These are pertinent to understanding infant feeding, which changes in tandem with physical development and the sequence of dental eruption. This is relevant to future research for the interpretation of the microwear signatures of infants compared with adults. Understanding weaning practices and early life diet is crucial to expand and develop what we know about cultural systems, population health, nutrition, and subsistence practices in the past.
... A grading system has been developed to quantitate the degree of wear (2). Recently, variation in the patterns of dental attrition among different groups suggests that the type of wear may have been influenced by different social and economic practices (7). Removal of the upper central incisors, or "tooth knocking", is found in groups from all over Australia and was practiced for thousands of years, being present in a 7000-year-old skull from Lake Nitchie (6). ...
The skeletal remains of eight Australian Aboriginals with healed depressed skull fractures were examined. Male:female ratio 5:3; age range 20-60 yrs. Burial dates by (14) C dating in three cases were 500 years BP (n = 2) and 1300 BP. There were 13 healed depressed skull fractures manifested by shallow indentations of cortical bone and thinning of diploe, with no significant disturbance of the inner skull tables. Nine (69%) were located within 35 mm of the sagittal suture/midline. These lesions represent another acquired feature that might be helpful in suggesting that a skull is from a tribal Aboriginal individual and may be particularly useful if the remains are represented by only fragments of calvarium. While obviously not a finding specific to this population, these healed injuries would be consistent with the possible results of certain types of conflict behavior reported in traditional Aboriginal groups that involved formalized inflicted blunt head trauma.
