Theme:
5. Theories and methods in archaeology: interactions between disciplines
Session format:
Regular session
Title:
CANCELLED Analytical Advances in the Study of Human Teeth: Diet, Mobility, Seasonality, and Health Status
Content:
Human teeth are frequent finds in archaeological and paleoanthropological contexts as they are often able to endure even the most challenging and destructive taphonomic processes. Thanks to their physical-chemical properties, which make them the most durable part of the human body, dental mineralized tissues are capable of preserving information about an individual’s life history—from the prenatal life to death. Over the last decade, multi-disciplinary and multi-analytical approaches in the investigation of human teeth resulted in a growing body of data, which document ancient population mobility, weaning patterns, early and post-weaning diet, adult diet, oral health status, occupational activities, growth rates, subadult age-at-death, sex determination, and season-at-death.
Presently, the use of cutting-edge methodologies in dental anthropology are advancing at an increasing pace. Multi-disciplinary approaches have proven effective in merging diverse analytical methodologies to address specific, and otherwise elusive, research questions; for instance, dietary habits, occupational activities, and health conditions based on an integrated analysis of dental calculus; dietary histories and mobility through chemical analyses (i.e. bulk isotopes or histologically defined laser ablation mass spectrometry); micro and macro evolutionary changes through inner and outer morphological analysis based on high resolution microtomography; infants’ growth patterns, health, and age-at-death using dental tissues histology; diet, occupation, and changes in the biomechanics of chewing through macro- and micro-wear analysis.
We invite contributors who work in the aforementioned fields of study to present relevant data applied to archaeological and paleoanthropological case studies, with an emphasis on multi-disciplinary approaches and cutting-edge methodologies.
Keywords:
teeth, dental anthropology, dental mineralized tissue, mobility, seasonality, diet
Session associated with MERC:
no
Session associated with CIfA:
no
Session associated with SAfA:
no
Session associated with CAA:
no
Session associated with DGUF:
no
Session associated with other:
Main organiser:
Dusan Boric (United States) 1
Co-organisers:
Alessia Nava (Italy) 2,3
Marija Edinborough (Australia) 4
Emanuela Cristiani (Italy) 2
Affiliations:
1. Columbia University
2. University of Rome
3. University of Kent
4. University of Melbourne
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