“From the mouth of a child”: dental attributes and health status during childhood in Mesolithic India

Abstract

A complete deciduous dentition was excavated from the Mesolithic site of Damdama (8800-8600 BC) in the Gangetic Plain of north India. The site yielded remains of 47 individuals, including one child specimen 3.0-3.5 years of age, in association with an aceramic, microlithic technology and a seminomadic foraging pattern. Because sub-adult dental remains from Mesolithic contexts are very rare in South Asia, this specimen yields critical insight into deciduous dental attributes, including: (i) tooth crown size and temporal trends in dental reduction; (ii) non-metric dental morphology and biological affinity; and (iii) dental pathology, physiological stress, and diet. Standardized methods were employed in each component of the analysis, and most comparative samples were analyzed by the author, reducing the potential for inter-observer variance in data collection.

Characteristics of infant deciduous teeth of the Yangshao culture at the Yuhuazhai site in Xi'an, China

“…This approach began to be used to identify human genetic features in the early 20th century (Lukacs and Walimbe 1984;Lukacs 1984). However, much past research has concentrated on permanent teeth, ignoring the necessity of research on deciduous teeth (Barberia et al 2009;Hillton 1996;Jorgensen 1956;Kieser 1990; Lukacs 2016Lukacs , 2019Lukacs et al 1983; Margetts and Brown 1978;Moss and Chase 1966;Sciulli 1998Sciulli , 2001Scott and Turner 1997;Von Koenigswald 1967). Observation and measurement of deciduous tooth crowns of people from various periods has primarily been done in Europe, America, Australia, Japan, and South Asia up to now ( Although it is di cult to obtain ancient human deciduous teeth in archaeological sites due to factors such as short usage periods and poor preservation ability (Kitagawa 2000;Sciulli 1998Sciulli , 2001), many scholars have pointed out that deciduous teeth serve the same purpose as permanent teeth in revealing physical characteristics of human populations and tracing the origins of human genes (Hanihara 1976; Loren et al 2005; Lukacs 2016, 2019; Lukacs and Hemphill 1991; Perzigian 1986;Sciulli 1990).…”

Reconstructing breastfeeding and weaning practices in the Bronze Age Near East using stable nitrogen isotopes

“…Compared to what is necessary for investigating adult age group differences, this is a scale of months and years rather than decades. The paucity of aging standards specific for nonadults of non‐European descent is acknowledged (Cruz‐Landeira et al, ; Danforth, Wrobel, Armstrong, & Swanson, ; Halcrow, Tayles, & Buckley, ; Lukacs, ), although there is some evidence that the differences between populations are insignificant (Liversidge et al, ), especially if age‐at‐death estimation is based on dental development.…”