The Diet of Three Medieval Individuals from Caravate (Varese, Italy). Combined Results of ICP‐MS Analysis of Trace Elements and Phytolith Analysis Conducted on Their Dental Calculus

Beyond food: The multiple pathways for inclusion of materials into ancient dental calculus

“…A study that combined scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with elemental analysis using energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy (EDX) has shown potential in detecting food and micro‐debris linked to occupational habits (e.g., Charlier et al, ); however, it does not recover and identify as many particles as light microscopy (Power et al, ). Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP‐MS) analysis of trace elements in dental calculus samples also seems promising and it has so far been used in the identification of carbohydrates and fish (Lazzati et al, ).…”

Life in the fast lane: Settled pastoralism in the Central Eurasian Steppe during the Middle Bronze Age

“…For ancient individuals exhibiting very little or no dental calculus, it is impossible to conclude whether calculus did not accumulate or if it was removed through good hygienic practice. Perhaps this explains the exclusion of dental calculus from more recent dental paleopathology work, with research transitioning to the value of calculus as a depot for phytoliths, microbiota or other debris in dietary analysis (e.g., Buckley, Usai, Jakob, Radini, & Hardy, ; Fiorenza et al, ; Hardy et al, ; Henry, Brooks, & Piperno, ; Henry & Piperno, ; Lazzati et al, ; Radini et al, ; Warinner et al, ).…”

Tooth grooves, occlusal striations, dental calculus, and evidence for fiber processing in an Italian eneolithic/bronze age cemetery

“…Past surveys have merely focused on documenting presence, distribution and extent of the calculus deposits in relation to oral pathologies (Littleton and Frohlich, ) and to dietary habits (Lieverse, ). Often calculus preserves microfossils (Arensburg, ; Hardy et al, ; Henry and Piperno, ; Henry, Brooks, & Piperno, ; Lalueza Fox et al, ; Lazzati et al, ; Li et al, ; Radini et al, ; Wesolowski, Ferraz Mendonça de Souza, Reinhard, & Ceccantini, ; Zhang et al, ), chemical elements (Poulson et al, ; Price, Keenleyside, & Schwarcz, ) and biomolecules (Warinner et al, ). More specific studies have identified the use of fire in enclosed environments by presence of micro‐charcoal inclusions (Hardy et al, ), source of drinking water (Dudgeon and Tromp, ), pathogenic microorganisms (Mackie et al, ; Preus, Marvik, Selvig, & Bennike, ; Warinner et al, ), medicinal plants (Hardy et al, ), processed food (Buckley, Usai, Jakob, Radini, & Hardy, ; Henry, Brooks, & Piperno, ; Warinner et al, ), use of tobacco (Eerkens et al, ) and mtDNA (Black, Kerr, Henebry‐DeLeon, & Lorenz, ).…”