Short Report: Evidence of Trepanation on a Female Individual from the Middle Bronze Age Necropolis of Casas Velhas (Melides, Portugal)

In the Iron Age IIA Philistine cemetery at Ashkelon (modern Israel), roughly 11% of individuals exhibit severe and highly variable dental wear, which we explore here at two timescales: wear that accumulates over days and weeks (microwear) and wear that accumulates over months and years (macrowear). Using teeth from both adult and nonadult individuals, we first established categories of dental macrowear patterns and sorted individuals within them. We then made replicas of the teeth from 27 individuals having both typical and atypical dental wear and performed metrology by noncontact profilometry on a reflected light microscope. We then calculated each tooth's surface roughness (Sa) and collected qualitative observations of teeth within each macrowear category. Our findings show no macrowear or microwear pattern exclusive to sex or age group. Likewise, there are no statistically significant differences (p < 0.05) in Sa between adult males and females, and sampled nonadults fall within two standard deviations of the pooled adult means. The microscopic surfaces of all teeth show a wide variety of textures on the occlusal surfaces, including wavy striations, deep parallel striations, globular pitting, and newly described rectangular pits. These results indicate that individuals used their teeth as a third hand while manipulating objects and that children also participated in these activities. Due to the similarities in dental wear between Ashkelon and other coastal populations, we conclude that the observed wear patterns arose from the performance of specialized tasks for a marine‐based economy.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dental wear in a marine economy: A case study from Philistine Ashkelon

Kalisher,

Master,

Bailey

et al. 2023

“…Domenec Campillo analysed 141 trepanations in 100 crania from prehistoric times in the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands (Campillo, 1977, 1984, 1986, 2007, 2011). In this paper, we have been able to document 184 cases of trepanation in 135 crania (Barras de Aragón, 1930, 1931, 1933, 1938; Basabe & Bennasar, 1983; Campillo, 1977, 1984, 1986, 2007, 2011; Campo, Cambra‐Moo, & González, 2019; Etxeberria, 1986; Etxeberria & Herrasti, 2007; Fusté, 1965; García‐Ruíz, 1996; Jiménez & Alcolea, 2001; Jiménez‐Brobeil, Botella, & Alemán, 1996; Liesau & Pastor, 2003; Rihuete, 2002; Roca de Togores & Soler, 2010; Silva, 2003; Silva, Soares, & Da Silva, 2016; Tomé, Silva, & Giraldo, 2016); 53 of them are dated in the Neolithic (39.3%), 26 in the Copper Age (19.3%) and 56 in the Bronze Age (41.5%) (Figure 8).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A new case of prehistoric trepanation and scalping in the Iberian Peninsula: The tomb of La Saga (Cáseda, Navarre)

Díaz‐Navarro

2020

Trepanation is considered one of the oldest surgical procedures in the world, of which the earliest evidence goes back to the Mesolithic. Over 130 cases of trepanated crania have been documented in the recent prehistory of the Iberian Peninsula, one of the areas with the highest number of cases. This paper analyses and discusses a new case from northern Spain. The cranium was found in the site of La Saga, Cáseda, Navarre, a small tomb where nine individuals were simultaneously placed at the end of the Bronze Age. It belongs to an adult female and displays a pentagonal hole in the central area of the cranial vault over the sagittal suture. The pentagonal shape of the injury, its regular outline, and the presence of 10 fusiform and two rounded grooves suggest that the bone was intentionally removed by means of cutting and leverage, a technique documented in another example from the Iberian Peninsula. Neither cranial lesions nor pathological evidence have been identified to justify the surgical procedure. Furthermore, the case is exceptional due to the presence of superficial and parallel cut marks in longitudinal and transversal directions across the parietal and temporal bones, unequivocally associated with scalping practice, and which would be performed prior to the trepanation in order to facilitate it. The absence of any kind of healing or bone regeneration points towards the death of the individual during the procedure. Together with the presence of marks of violence and manipulation of the skeletal remains of some individuals buried in the same grave, this leads us to propose that the trepanation was possibly performed to heal a previous trauma resulting from a violent conflict that caused the death of this and eight other individuals from the community.

“…The Bronze Age archaeological record of southern Iberia offers additional evidence for the range of materials that may have been worked with the anterior teeth at Monte do Vale do Ouro 2. For instance, offerings of meat are well‐documented in Bronze Age funerary contexts in southern Portugal (Alves et al, 2010; Filipe, Godinho, Granja, Ribeiro, & Valera, 2013; Silva, Gil, Soares, & da Silva, 2017; Valério et al, 2014), and in some cases are represented by wool‐bearing ( Ovis ) animals (Fidalgo, Porfírio, & Silva, 2016; Fidalgo, Silva, & Porfírio, 2020). However, plant materials—and especially flax—were probably the most common raw material for clothing production in the third and second millenium BP of southern Iberia (Costeira & Mataloto, 2018), and a rare example of flax or hemp fibers and a metal awl are documented from a Bronze Age female burial at Bela Vista 5 in southern Portugal (Bottaini, Manhita, Dias, et al, 2014; Cunha, Silva, Tomé, & Valera, 2018; Valera & Simão, 2014).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The recent proliferation of excavations in southwest Iberia in general, and southern Portugal in particular, has greatly informed our knowledge of the Chalcolithic (3300–2200 BC) and Early/Middle Bronze Age (2200–1200 BC) archaeological contexts in the region—especially concerning the heterogeneity of funeral practices during this period (Alves et al, 2010; Filipe, Godinho, Granja, Ribeiro, & Valera, 2013; Pereira, Silva, Valera, & Porfírio, 2017a; Valério et al, 2014). Unfortunately, poor preservation of human remains has severely limited bioarchaeological reconstructions of human lifeways in southwest Iberia (Silva, Gil, Soares, & da Silva, 2017). However, among the few bioarchaeological studies from the Bronze Age of southern Portugal (Fidalgo, Porfírio, & Silva, 2016; Fidalgo & Silva, 2020; Fidalgo, Silva, & Porfírio, 2020; Pereira et al, 2017a; Pereira, Silva, & Valera, 2017b; Silva et al, 2018; Silva, Gil, Soares, & da Silva, 2016; Silva, Gil, Soares, & da Silva, 2017), patterns of dental wear related to the nonmasticatory use of the dentition for manipulative tasks have provided some of the most informative reconstructions of Bronze Age human habitual behaviours for the region (Fidalgo, Silva, & Porfírio, 2020; Pereira et al, 2017a, 2017b; Silva, Gil, Soares, & da Silva, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The embodiment of craft production in Bronze Age Portugal: Exceptional dental wear grooves in an individual from Monte do Vale do Ouro 2 (Ferreira do Alentejo, Portugal)

Willman

Valera

Silva

2020

Self Cite

Two human lateral mandibular incisors exhibiting exceptional dental wear in the form of lingual surface grooves along the cementoenamel junction were recovered from the superficial levels of a pit grave attributed to the Bronze Age at the archaeological site of Monte do Vale do Ouro 2 (Ferreira do Alentejo, Beja, Portugal). Although a number of analyses of dental wear features acknowledge the relatively common use of the dentition for nondietary purposes (using the ‘teeth as tools’) during the Early/Middle Bronze Age (2200–1200 BC) of southwest Iberia, the form of dental wear documented at Monte do Vale do Ouro 2 is not only a novel finding in this region but also has seldom been described in any bioarchaeological context. The present study provides a macroscopic and low‐magnification description of the atypical dental wear for this individual. Results indicate that the incisors are likely antimeres. In addition to the deep lingual grooves, asymmetrical wear removed a substantial portion of the laterolingual crown volume of each tooth. Occlusal and lingual surface wear accumulated slowly enough for tertiary dentin to form. An occlusal groove is also present on the right I2. A review of ethnohistoric and bioarchaeological literature suggests that some form of craft production involving the manipulation of cordage or fibre with the mouth and teeth can account for the unique wear patterns from Monte do Vale do Ouro 2. The hand‐spinning of flax requires wetting which can be accomplished by passing flax fibres through the mouth in a mediolateral direction while using a hand spindle. Similar habitual behaviours were probably practiced by the Bronze Age individual from Monte do Vale do Ouro 2. The wear grooves represent the embodiment of aspects of craft production and maintenance activities that occurred during this individual's lifecourse.