Hunter‐gatherer variability: Dental wear in South Australia

Abstract

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 focusing on wear across the dentition, including the premolars. The samples came from coastal and riverine regions of southern Australia. The analysis used records from the Yorke Peninsula, Adelaide Plains (Gillman site), and Euston regions. These were compared with previously published work from the Adelaide Plains and four locations on the Murray River. The results confirm the overall severity of wear but reveal systematic differences between the samples in terms of the pattern of wear. Heavy wear on the incisors and canines is observed among males from the Euston, Kaurna, Middle A, Murray Mouth, and Yorke Peninsula samples but with marked intra-individual variability. Extensive premolar wear is noted among females from Kaurna and Middle B samples as well as among males and females from Euston. It is argued that these patterns relate to gendered non-masticatory use of teeth and reliance upon bulrush (Typha spp.) and related species for both food and fiber among some groups. We argue that analyzing the degree of variability within samples and across all teeth provides a more nuanced understanding of dental wear among hunter-gatherers.

Dental wear and age grading at Roonka, South Australia

“…The overall degree and pattern of macrowear at Roonka is similar to that observed at Gillman on the Adelaide Plains (Figure ) and by extension the neighboring region of the Murray River (Middle A as per Figure , Littleton et al, ). It corresponds to a group where most individuals probably used their anterior teeth in nonmasticatory ways.…”

“…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, ). Assessing age‐related differences is more complicated since basic occlusal relationships change as wear progresses through adulthood.…”

“…Smith (), 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, ). 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, ) but also patterns of usage of the anterior teeth and premolars (Clement, Hillson, de la Torre, & Townsend, ; Clement and Hillson, ; Deter, ; Littleton et al, ). 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, ; Littleton et al, ).…”

Dental health of the late 19th and early 20th century Khoesan

“…Sex differences in crown wear differ between populations and each population should be investigated within its own biological and cultural context in order to discover the reason behind male and female discrepancies (Littleton et al, 2013;Scott and Turner, 1988). It is possible that in our study females used their central incisors as tools more often than males for a specific activity, such as making clothes from animal skins or stripping peels of vegetables/plants (Berbesque et al, 2012).…”