Oral stress and paleodiet changes among hunter‐gatherers from Negro River (northern Patagonia, Argentina) during the late Holocene

Abstract

The objective of this work is to evaluate temporal variation of dento‐alveolar lesions in hunter‐gatherer groups who inhabited the middle course of the Negro River during the late Holocene (ca. 3000‐750 years BP) in order to discuss cultural practices and changes in the paleodiet. Caries, dental calculus, periodontal disease, periapical lesions, antemortem tooth loss, tooth wear, dislocation, and osteoarthrosic lesions in the temporomandibular joint were analysed. The sample is represented by 567 teeth and 547 alveoli, corresponding to 32 adult and subadult individuals, who were divided into two periods for comparative purposes: pre‐1000 and post‐1000 BP. The results indicate a low prevalence of oral lesions without differences between sex and age. In the pre‐1000 BP period, there is a larger frequency of antemortem tooth loss, parafunctional wear of the anterior teeth, dental dislocations, and osteoarthrosis in the mandibular condyles compared with the post‐1000 period. This tendency indicates that the individuals would have been exposed to greater stress in chewing. However, the variations were not significant, so there is no clear evidence of changes in the diet and particularly in carbohydrate and plant intake through the late Holocene. Severe tooth wear is the main factor that caused some pathologies (e.g., antemortem tooth loss), and limited the development of others (e.g., caries). The results obtained here agree with other microregions from northeastern Patagonia and differ from Humid Pampas, eastern Pampa‐Patagonian transition, and lower course of the Negro River due to differences in carbohydrate consumption in the last ca. 1000 years BP.

Patologías orales y dieta en sociedades cazadoras-recolectoras de la transición pampeano-patagónica oriental (Argentina)

“…52 DOI: http://doi.org/10. 31048/1852.4826.v17.n1.42954 ISSN 1852-060X (impreso) / ISSN 1852-4826 (electrónico) interpretar dietas humanas (Bernal et al, 2007;L'Heureux, 2000;Flensborg et al, 2019;Gómez Otero y Novellino, 2011;Menéndez, 2010).…”

Beyond dirty teeth: Integrating dental calculus studies with osteoarchaeological parameters

“…Dietary reconstruction through osteoarchaeological remains is indirect and employs macroscopic, microscopic and biochemical methods. Macroscopically, ancient diet can be approached through the relative frequency of dental pathologies ( Flensborg et al, 2019 ; Mayes, 2016 ). Traditionally, dental caries has been associated with increased consumption of carbohydrates ( Koca et al, 2006 ; Temple and Larsen, 2007 ), whereas dental calculus deposits have been linked to protein consumption ( Lillie, 1996 ).…”

An improved method for measuring molar wear

“…If the goal of a project is to characterize expression or degree of wear, other methods (such as Molnar, 1979 or Smith, 1984) are preferred. Despite this, Scott's method is recommended in Standards (Buikstra & Ubelaker, 1994) as a supplement to Smith's (1984), therefore resulting in countless studies (e.g., Durán et al, 2018; Flensborg et al, 2019; Kolpan & Bartelink, 2019; Tuggle & Watson, 2019; Nikita et al, 2019; Pawlik et al, 2019; Suby & Giberto, 2019; to name recent publications) that use this method to characterize expression of wear.…”