Diet and attrition in the natufians

Abstract

There is a high correlation between the rate of dental attrition and the physical consistency of the diet. Hypotheses concerning types of diet and methods of food preparation in prehistoric populations may therefore be tested by comparing attrition rates in the specimens under investigation with standards derived from groups of known dietary status. For such comparisons the age factor is of paramount importance, but difficult to assess accurately in fragmentary skeletal material. The use of attrition gradients rather than mean attrition scores provides a n age independent method for comparison of attrition rates. When Natufian specimens from three different sites (Kebara, El Wad and Eynan) were compared by this method, significant differences in the gradient of attrition were found at one site, Kebara. The incidences of caries and periodontal disease were also lower at this site, and taken in conjunction with the low level of attrition were considered to relate to differences in the vegetable content of the diet between the individuals recovered from Kebara and those recovered from El Wad and Eynan.Investigations into the dietary status of prehistoric populations involve the exploration of many different lines of research. Human skeletal remains, when present, afford a good primary source of information regarding nutritional status, while the dentition can provide more detailed information regarding both carbohydrate content and physical consistency of the diet (Davies, '63; Kreshover and McClure, '66).Caries, attrition and periodontal disease result in permanent lesions of the hard tissues of the teeth and supporting bone (table 1). Direct comparisons can therefore be made between the pattern of dental disease in skeletal populations and that of extant groups of known dietary status, providing that due allowance is made for the effect of variables such as differences in tooth structure and age of specimens examined.In the case of attrition, the major component of tooth wear, the age-attrition correlation is especially high. Tooth wear takes place as a result of mechanical friction of the tooth. It is thus primarily a function of age and diet, although the rate and pattern of wear may be secondarily affected by differences in tooth struc-AM. J. PHYS. ANTHROP.. 37: 233-238. ture, jaw relationship, chewing patterns and cultural habits (Smith, '72).Differences in tooth structure as well as non-dietary factors producing attrition can usually be identified by careful examination of the teeth. Age estimations for adult skeletal material are, however, more difficult. The usual range of accuracy claimed is from five to ten years (Krogman, 'SZ), and in individuals with a rapid rate of attrition such a range may bias the findings considerably.For example, in a recent study of different communities in Israel, we found that the attrition score more than doubled between the 20 and 40-year age groups in Bedouin who show a high rate of attrition. In Fellahin with a less abrasive diet, it increased by half this amount ov...

Comparative analysis of dentognathic pathologies in the Dmanisi mandibles

“…Food-related behaviors tend to be socially transmitted within populations (Molnar 1971;Smith 1972). Differences in dental wear patterns between populations are thus not only diet-related but indicate technocultural differences.…”

Influencia de Tiwanaku en la calidad de vida biológica de la población prehistórica de San Pedro de Atacama

“…H. Smith 1984). Puesto que los alimentos más fibrosos (como los vegetales cuando son comparados con la carne) son los más abrasivos, el grado de desgaste oclusal de las muestras prehistóricas es también muy utilizado para la reconstitución de la dieta (P. Smith 1972;Kieser et al 1985;McKee y Molnar 1988;Molnar y Molnar 1985;Kaifu 1999). El grado de desgaste de cada pieza dental fue evaluado según la escala propuesta por Molnar (1972) y los grados medios de desgaste de cada período fueron comparados a través del test de análisis de varianza de Kruskall-Wallis.…”

Changes in the pattern of tooth wear from prehistoric to recent periods in Japan

“…Anthropologists have so far investigated the relationship between the patterns of tooth wear and subsistence and/or behavior through comparisons of various modern human populations (e.g., Molnar, 1971Molnar, , 1972Smith, 1972;Walker, 1978;Hinton, 1982;Puech et al, 1983). Major results of these studies have been, e.g., documentation of a general reduction of wear accompanied by subsistence change from foraging to foodproduction (see Larsen, 1997 for a review and references), and documentation of worldwide differences between prehistoric hunter-gatherers and agriculturists in the angle of the occlusal wear plane on the molars (Smith, 1984).…”