More than what we eat: Investigating an alternative pathway for intact starch granules in dental calculus using Experimental Archaeology

Delaney, Sarah; Alexander, Michelle; Radini, Anita

doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2022.03.004

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 57 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Initial applications of this methodology in the Middle Nile Valley have started to transform our understanding of Neolithic subsistence economies and dietary breadth [37,38,41,[56][57][58]. However, there is increasing recognition of the interpretive constraints that limit the utility of these analyses as a proxy for past diet [84][85][86]. Studies continue to highlight the variability of recovered microparticle assemblages that present a partial record of dietary intake and fail to capture dietary breadth at the individual level [87,88].…”

Section: A Multiproxy Approach To Reconstructing Past Dietmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological flexibility and adaptation to past climate change in the Middle Nile Valley: A multiproxy investigation of dietary shifts between the Neolithic and Kerma periods at Kadruka 1 and Kadruka 21

et al. 2023

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Human responses to climate change have long been at the heart of discussions of past economic, social, and political change in the Nile Valley of northeastern Africa. Following the arrival of Neolithic groups in the 6th millennium BCE, the Northern Dongola Reach of Upper Nubia witnessed a cultural florescence manifested through elaborate funerary traditions. However, despite the wealth of archaeological data available from funerary contexts, including evidence for domesticated animals and plants as grave goods, the paucity of stratified habitation contexts hinders interpretation of local subsistence trajectories. While it is recognised archaeologically that, against the backdrop of increasing environmental deterioration, the importance of agriculture based on Southwest Asian winter cereals increased throughout the Kerma period (2500–1450 BCE), the contribution of domesticated cereals to earlier Neolithic herding economies remains unclear. This paper presents direct dietary data from a total of 55 Middle Neolithic and Kerma period individuals from Kadruka 21 and Kadruka 1. Microbotanical data obtained from human dental calculus and grave sediments are integrated with human and faunal stable isotopes to explore changes in dietary breadth over time. The combined results demonstrate the consumption of wild plant species, including C4 wetland adapted grasses, by Middle Neolithic individuals at Kadruka 1. Despite existing evidence for domesticated barley in associated graves, the results obtained in this study provide no clear evidence for the routine consumption of domesticated cereals by Middle Neolithic individuals. Rather, direct microparticle evidence for the consumption of Triticeae cereals is only associated with a single Kerma period individual and corresponds with an isotopic shift indicating a greater contribution of C3-derived resources to diet. These results provide evidence for Neolithic dietary flexibility in Upper Nubia through the persistence of foraging activities and support existing evidence linking increased agricultural reliance to the development of the Kerma culture.

show abstract

Section: A Multiproxy Approach To Reconstructing Past Dietmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological flexibility and adaptation to past climate change in the Middle Nile Valley: A multiproxy investigation of dietary shifts between the Neolithic and Kerma periods at Kadruka 1 and Kadruka 21

et al. 2023

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…2 ). These modifications are probably due to mechanical processing (e.g., grinding, pounding), cooking/heating, or fermentation 58 – 61 , 68 .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition to cooking techniques, the evidence of starch granules which are exceptionally well preserved in groups and still included in the amyloplast could also indirectly indicate the low level of processing for the preparation of starchy foods. Furthermore, the presence of phytoliths in dental calculus may be caused by several extra-dietary sources, such as accidental inhalation or dust in the environment generated by the use of grasses in a variety of activities and uses, such as flooring and kindling 58 , 59 , 61 . This evidence could also be linked to the grinding stones found in the archaeological assemblages from the Kassala region, which further suggest the role of plants in daily life activities 17 – 20 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Direct evidence of plant consumption in Neolithic Eastern Sudan from dental calculus analysis

Capasso,

Neves,

Sperduti

et al. 2024

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Neolithic communities of Eastern Sudan combined intensive pastoralism with plant exploitation as their main subsistence strategies. However, to date, it remains unclear which plant species were part of the human diet during the Neolithic. This contribution presents direct data on plant consumption in Eastern Sudan from the Early to Late Neolithic, obtained through the analysis of microdebris inclusions in the dental calculus of 37 individuals, integrated by dentoalveolar pathology analysis of 78 individuals, from the sites UA53 (4th millennium BCE) and Mahal Teglinos (3rd–2nd millennium BCE), located in the Gash Delta/Kassala region. Dental calculus inclusions indicate a diverse intake of cereals, legumes, and tubers during the Middle Neolithic, thus supporting the hypothesis of high reliance on plant resources. Dentoalveolar pathologies, possibly related to the consumption of carbohydrate-rich foods, have also been recorded. For the Late Neolithic, consistent with the shift towards aridity that occurred in the Middle/Late Holocene, dental calculus exclusively indicates the exploitation of sorghum and tubers—species well adapted to arid conditions—showing how the Neolithic communities modified their subsistence in response to environmental changes. Evidence of plant processing techniques, such as cooking/heating, was also revealed from the dental calculus analysis.

show abstract

Microbotanical starch analysis as a tool for Indigenous foodways research: An early Navajo case study from the U.S. Southwest

Campbell,

Weber,

Dresser-Kluchman

et al. 2025

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

More than what we eat: Investigating an alternative pathway for intact starch granules in dental calculus using Experimental Archaeology

Cited by 4 publications

References 57 publications

Ecological flexibility and adaptation to past climate change in the Middle Nile Valley: A multiproxy investigation of dietary shifts between the Neolithic and Kerma periods at Kadruka 1 and Kadruka 21

Ecological flexibility and adaptation to past climate change in the Middle Nile Valley: A multiproxy investigation of dietary shifts between the Neolithic and Kerma periods at Kadruka 1 and Kadruka 21

Direct evidence of plant consumption in Neolithic Eastern Sudan from dental calculus analysis

Microbotanical starch analysis as a tool for Indigenous foodways research: An early Navajo case study from the U.S. Southwest

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About