Cultural alteration of human teeth in the Mariana Islands

Abstract

Evidence of cultural dental modification in a precontact (pre-1521) skeletal sample from the Academy of Our Lady of Guam gymnasium site in Agana, Guam, is documented. Two of the four individuals recovered at the Academy Gym site exhibit modification of the maxillary teeth. One individual displays vertical incising of a single tooth, and the other exhibits horizontal abrading of the anterior teeth which may be a purposeful or an incidental alteration. Although deliberate alteration of the dentition, including tooth extraction, notching, filing, and drilling, has been documented in human groups worldwide, little has been written about these cultural practices in the Mariana Islands. Examination of the available literature on precontact human remains from the region reveals at least three patterns of dental incising and similar cases of dental abrasion. While the origins of these practices are not known, the presence and style of these cultural alterations may be sex-specific, cosmetic in nature, or an indication of status in a ranked society. Alternatively, they may signify membership in a particular group or lineage, or mark a rite of passage. Because the comparative samples are limited in number and small, and the provenience of many of the skeletons is obscure, temporal variation cannot be ruled out.

Echoes of distant pasts? New Britain, Vanuatu and Felix Speiser

“…Records of ACM practices are discontinuous across the Pacific Ocean. In the Mariana Islands during the Latte Period (950-1521 AD) several archaeological skulls had posterior flattening, a practice probably introduced by Spanish colonists (Ikehara-Quebral et al 2018). In nineteenth-century Fiji (Fison 1885:20, fn.…”

Ritual tooth ablation and the Austronesian expansion: Evidence from eastern Indonesia and the Pacific Islands

“…One possible case of mandible tooth ablation was observed in a male ftom a skeletal assemblage from a pre-contact Chamorro site on Guam (Apurguan) and a number (9119, 47.4%) of other individuals in the sample displayed AMTL of the maxillary or mandibular incisors without any other tooth qpe lost (Douglas, Pietrusewsky, and Ikehara-Quebral 1997). Tooth modification, in the form of incising and filing, has also been observed in late prehistoric and historic populations from the Marianas Islands in Micronesia (reviewed in Ikehara-Quebral and Douglas 1997). However, it is difficult to assess if the lack of tooth ablation in Lapita and post-Lapita associated individuals is actually a result of a lack of well-preserved and well-researched skeletal assemblages fiom this period (for a review see Clark et al 2017;Kinaston and Buckley 2013;Pietrusewsky 2005).…”

Modern Colonialism and Cultural Continuity Through Material Culture: An Example from Guam and CHamoru Plaiting

“…Many burials, however, featured no grave goods at all. In addition, only some adult skeletons (both female and male) displayed dental modifications (Heathcote et al 2012: 147;Ikehara-Quebral and Douglas 1997;Pietrusewsky et al 2014: 329;Stodder et al 2015: 532;Thompson 1945: 10).…”