Dental Caries, Prehistoric Diet, and the Pithouse-to-Pueblo Transition in Southwestern Colorado

Abstract

Researchers in different parts of the southwestern United States continue to debate whether the end of the Basketmaker period coincides with a general shift from supplemental to intensive maize agriculture across the U.S. Southwest. In some areas this transition appears to have occurred earlier, with heavy reliance on agriculture appearing by the Basketmaker II period. In this study, evidence from dental caries in southwestern Colorado populations supports the latter view, suggesting that Basketmaker subsistence in this area included a heavy reliance on agricultural products. Dental caries frequencies in both Basketmaker and post-Basketmaker samples are well within the expected range for full-time agriculturalists. Although there is no significant association between time period and caries rate, frequencies of interproximal caries and numbers of carious teeth per individual may indicate maize-processing differences between samples obtained from the two temporal periods. Differences in the intensity of maize production, rather than consumption, may contribute to the current lack of agreement on the timing of Southwestern agricultural dependence.

The usefulness of caries frequency, depth, and location in determining cariogenicity and past subsistence: A test on early and later agriculturalists from the Peruvian coast

“…Christy Turner observed a comparable average percentage of carious teeth across populations with the same subsistence (Turner, 1978(Turner, , 1979Schollmeyer and Turner, 2004). Accordingly, hunter-gatherers present caries frequencies of 0%25.3%, groups based on a mixed diet 0.44%210.3% and finally agriculturalists show frequencies ranging from 2.2% to 26.9%.…”

“…There are many examples where higher frequencies of oral pathology are associated with the shift from hunter-gatherer subsistence to agriculture (Lukacs, 1996;Larsen, 1997;Hillson, 1996Hillson, , 2001. Christy Turner observed a comparable average percentage of carious teeth across populations with the same subsistence (Turner, 1978(Turner, , 1979Schollmeyer and Turner, 2004). Accordingly, hunter-gatherers present caries frequencies of 0%25.3%, groups based on a mixed diet 0.44%210.3% and finally agriculturalists show frequencies ranging from 2.2% to 26.9%.…”

Using dental and activity indicators in order to explore possible sex differences in an adult rural medieval population from Thebes (Greece)

“…The total caries percentage for our population is 16.7%, and according to the frequencies defined by Turner (1978), (1979); Schollmeyer and Turner (2004); our percentage falls within the agricultural diet (2.2-26.9%). This finding is in agreement with both the historical information supporting an agricultural economy (See Chapter 1.2) as well as with the isotopic investigation conducted at the Stable Isotope Unit, of N.C.S.R.…”

“…Furthermore, studies have examined caries rates in different types of societies. According to these studies, hunter-gatherers present caries frequencies between 0-5.3%, populations with mixed diets 0.44-10.3% and agriculturalists from 2.2-26.9% (Turner 1978(Turner , 1979Schollmeyer and Turner 2004). Determining the type of a society is very important, as it can be definitely associated with the identification of possible gender differences regarding diet.…”

Oral health and frailty in the medieval English cemetery of St Mary Graces

“…Many biological anthropologists are interested in dental and oral health (from here subsumed under the phrase ''oral health'') per se and how they might reflect more general levels of health. Of particular interest to anthropologists are the ways in which oral health varies within a population according to sex, age, and social status, how diet affects oral health, and how oral health has varied over time in human populations Corbett, 1971, 1973;Corbett and Moore, 1976;Cohen and Armelagos, 1984;Goodman et al, 1984Goodman et al, , 1987Hodges, 1987;Kerr, 1991;Sledzik and Moore-Jansen, 1991;Beckett and Lovell, 1994;Danforth et al, 1994;Sutter, 1995;Lukacs, 1996;Sakashita et al, 1997;Danforth, 1999;Scaronlaus, 2000;Robb et al, 2001;Schollmeyer and Ii, 2004;Wols and Baker, 2004;Eshed et al, 2006;Lukacs and Largaespada, 2006;Oxenham and Tayles, 2006;Oztunc et al, 2006;Phillips, 2006;Boldsen, 2007;Lieverse et al, 2007;Paine et al, 2007;e.g., Starling and Stock, 2007;Temple and Larsen, 2007;Keenleyside, 2008;Rose and Vieira, 2008;Watson, 2008).…”