Tooth wear and dental pathology at the advent of agriculture: New evidence from the levant

American Journal of Physical Anthropology

Volumn 130, Issue 2, 2006, Pages 145-159

  Eshed, Vered ^a   Gopher, Avi ^a   Hershkovitz, Israel ^a,b  

^a TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY   (Israel)

^b CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY   (United States)

Author keywords

Agriculture; Dental pathology; Diet; Hunter gatherer; Levant; Natufian; Neolithic; Tooth wear

Indexed keywords

AGRICULTURE; ARTICLE; DENTAL CARIES; DIET; FOOD INTAKE; HUMAN; MOLAR TOOTH; PERIODONTAL DISEASE; TOOTH CALCULUS; TOOTH DISEASE;

AGRICULTURE; DIET; HISTORY, ANCIENT; HUMANS; MIDDLE EAST; ORAL HEALTH; PALEODONTOLOGY; PERIAPICAL ABSCESS; PERIODONTAL DISEASES; TOOTH DISEASES;

EID: 33646725326     PISSN: 00029483     EISSN: 10968644     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.20362     Document Type: Article

References (122)

1. Ainamo J. 1970. Concomitant periodontal disease and dental caries in young adult males. Suomen Hammaslaakaresearan Toimitaksia 66:303-306.
2. Anderson JE. 1965. Human skeleton of Tehuacan. Science 148:496-497.
3. Arambourg C, Boule M, Vallois HR, Verneau R. 1934. Les grottes paleolithiques des Beni Segoual, Algerie. Paris: Memoires de l'Institut de Paleontologie Humaine 13.
4. Arensburg B, Hershkovitz I. 1988. Nahal Hemar Cave: Neolithic human remains. Atiqot 18:50-58.
5. Armelagos GJ, Rose JC. 1972. Factors effecting tooth loss in Pre-historic Nubian populations. Presented at Meet Soc Am Archaeol, Miami.
6. Backett S, Lovell NC. 1994. Dental disease evidence for agricultural intensification in the Nubian C-group. Int J Osteoarchaeol 4:223-239.
7. Baily SE. 2004. A morphometric analysis of maxillary molar crowns of middle-late Pleistocene hominins. J Hum Evol 47:183-198.
8. Bar-Yosef O. 1991. The archaeology of the Natufian layer at Hayonim Cave. Int Monogr Prehist Archaeol Ser 1:81-92.
9. Bar-Yosef O. 1992. The Neolithic period. In: Ben-Tor A, editor. The archaeology of ancient Israel. New Haven: Yale Univerity Press. p 10-39.
10. Bar-Yosef O. 1995. Earliest food producers-Pre-Pottery Neolithic (8000-5500). In: Levy TE, editor. The archeology of society in the Holy Land. London: Leicester University Press. p 190-204.
11. Bar-Yosef O. 2001. From sedentary foragers to village hierarchies: the emergence of social institutions. Proc Br Acad 100:1-38.
12. Bar-Yosef O, Alon D. 1988. Nahal Hemar Cave. Atiqot 18 [English-language version]. p 6-29.
13. Bar-Yosef O, Belfer-Cohen A. 1989. The Levantine "PPNB" interaction sphere. In: Hershkovitz I, editor. People and culture in change. Oxford: BAR International Series. p 59-72.
14. Bar-Yosef O, Gopher A. 1997. An early Neolithic village in the Jordan Valley. Part I: the archaeology of Netiv Hagdud. American School of Prehistoric Research bulletin 43, Peabody Museum, Harvard University. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University.
15. Belfer-Cohen A. 1988. The Natufian settlement at Hayonim cave-a hunter-gatherer band, on the threshold of agriculture. Ph.D. dissertation, Hebrew University, Jerusalem.
16. Belfer-Cohen A. 1991. The Natufian in the Levant. Annu Rev Anthropol 20:167-186.
17. Belfer-Cohen A, Schepartz LA, Arensburg B. 1991. New biological data for the Natufian populations in Israel. Int Monogr Prehist Archaeol Ser 1:411-424.
18. Borognini-Tarli SM, Repetto E. 1985. Dietary patterns in the Mesolithic samples from Uzzo and Molara caves (Sicily): the evidence of teeth. J Hum Evol 14:241-254.
19. Borgonini-Tarli S, Canci A, Piperno M, Repetto E. 1993. Dental archeologici e antroplogici sulle sepolture mesolithiche della Grotta dell'Uzzo (Trapani). Bull Paleontol Ital 84:85-179.
20. Brothwell DR. 1981. Digging up bones: the excavation treatment and study of human skeletal remains, 2nd ed. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
21. Cassidy CM. 1984. Skeletal evidence for prehistoric subsistence adaptation in the Central Ohio River Vally. In: Cohen MN, Armelagos GJ, editors. Paleopathology at the origins of agriculture. Orlando: Academic Press. p 307-346.
22. Clarke NG, Hirsch RS. 1991. Physiological, pulpal, and periodontal factors influencing alveolar bone. In: Kelley MA, Larsen CS, editors. Advances in dental anthropology. New York: Wiley-Liss. p 241-266.
23. Clarke NG, Carey SE, Sirkandi WS, Hirsch RS, Leppard PI. 1986. Periodontal disease in ancient populations. Am J Phys Anthropol 71:173-183.
24. Cohen MN, Armelagos GJ, editors. 1984. Paleopathology at the origins of agriculture. New York: Academic Press.
25. Cook DC. 1984. Subsistence and health in the lower Illinois Valley: osteological evidence. In: Cohen MN, Armelagos GJ, editors. Paleopathology at the origins of agriculture. Orlando: Academic Press. p 237-270.
26. Costa R. 1982. Periodontal disease in the prehistoric Ipiutak and Tigara skeletal remains from Point Hope, Alaska. Am J Phys Anthropol 59:97-110.
27. Crognier E, Dupouy-Madre M. 1974. Les Natoufiens du Nahal Oren (Israel étude anthropologique). Paleorient 1:103-121.
28. Dias G, Tayles N. 1997. "Abscess cavity"-a misnomer. Int J Osteoarchaeol 7:548-554.
29. El-Din Al-Abbasi S, Sarie I. 1997. Prevalence of dental hypoplasia in the Neolithic site of Wasi Shu'eib in Jordan. Dent Anthropol 11:1-4.
30. Elvery MW, Savage NW, Wood WB. 1998. Radiographic study of the Broadbeach Aboriginal dentition. Am J Phys Anthropol 107:211-219.
31. Eshed V, Gopher A, Galili E, Hershkovitz I. 2004a. Musculoskeletal stress markers (MSM) in Natufian hunter-gatherers and Neolithic farmers in the Levant: the upper limb. Am J Phys Anthropol 123:303-315.
32. Eshed V, Gopher A, Gage TB, Hershkovitz I. 2004b. Has the transition to agriculture reshaped the demographic structure of prehistoric populations? New evidence from the Levant. Am J Phys Anthropol 124:315-329.
33. Evans D. 1973. A preliminary evaluation of the Taysal area, El Peten, Guatemala. Am Antiq 38:489-493.
34. Ferembach D. 1962. La necropole epipaleolithique de Taforal, Maroc oriental. Etude des sequelettes humains, Rabat: CNRS.
35. Fine D, Craig CT. 1981. Buccal surface wear of human premolar and molar teeth: a potential indicator of dietary and social differentiation. J Hum Evol 10:335-344.
36. Frayer DW. 1988. Caries and oral pathologies at the Mesolithc sites of Muge: Cabeco da Arruda and Moita do Sebastiao. Trab Antropol Etnol 27:9-25.
37. Frayer DW. 1989. Oral pathologies in the European upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic. In: Hershkovitz I, editor. People and culture in change. Proceedings of the Second Symposium on Upper Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic Populations of Europe and the Mediterranean Basin. B.A.R. international series 508. Oxford: B.A.R. p 255-262.
38. Galili E, Weinstein-Evron M, Hershkovitz I, Gopher A, Kislev M, Lernau O, Kolska-Horowitz L, Lernau H. 1993. Atlit-Yam: a prehistoric site on the sea floor off the Israeli coast. J Field Archaeol 20:133-157.
39. Galili E, Rosen B, Gopher A, Horwitz LK. 2002. The emergence and dispersion of the eastern Mediterranean fishing village: evidence from submerged Neolithic settlements off the Carmel coast, Israel. J Mediterranean Archaeol 15:167-198.
40. Gopher A. 1997. Horvat Galil-an early PPNB site in the Upper Galilee, Israel. Tel Aviv 24:183-222.
41. Goring-Morris AN. 2000. The quick and the dead: the social context of aceramic Neolithic mortuary practices as seen from Kfar Hahoresh. In: Kuijt I, editor. Life in Neolithic farming communities. New York: Kluwer Academic. p 103-136.
42. Goring-Morris AN, Burns R, Davidxon A, Eshed V, Goren Y, Hershkovitz I, Kangas S, Kelecevic J. 1998. The 1997 season of excavations at the mortuary site of Kfar HaHoresh, Galilee, Israel. Neolithics 3:1-4.
43. Held AJ. 1989. Periodontology. Basel: Birkhauser.
44. Herskovitz I. 1998. The evolution of oral microbiota and the spread of dental diseases. In: Greenblatt CL, editor. Digging for pathogens. Rehovot: Balaban Publishers. p 363-383.
45. Hershkovitz I, Gopher A. 1988. Human remains from Horvat Galil. A Pre-Pottery Neolithic site in the Upper Galilee, Israel. Paleorient 14:119-123.
46. Hershkovitz I, Sprirs MS, Frayer D, Wish-Baratz S, Nadel D, Arensburg B. 1995. Ohalo H2-a 19,000 year old skeleton from the waterlogged site at the Sea of Galilee, Israel. Am J Phys Anthropol 96:215-234.
47. Hildebolt CF, Molnar S. 1991. Measurements and description of periodontal disease in anthropological studies. In: Kelly MA, Larsen CS, editors. Advances in dental anthropology. New York: Wiley-Liss. p 22-240.
48. Hillson S. 1979. Diet and dental disease. World Archaeol 2:147-162.
49. Hillson S. 1986. Teeth. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
50. Hillson S. 1996. Dental anthropology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
51. Hinton RJ. 1981. Form and patterning of tooth wear among aboriginal human groups Am J Phys Anthropol 54:555-564.
52. Hinton RJ. 1982. Differences in interproximal and occlusal tooth wear among prehistoric Tennessee Indians: implications for masticatory function. Am J Phys Anthropol 57:103-115.
53. Hojgaard K. 1981. Dentition on Umm an-Nar c2500 BC. Pap Semin Arab Stud 11:31-36.
54. Homan B. 1977. Changing periodontal status in a changing environment. J Dent Res 56:46-54.
55. Jurmain R. 1990. Paleoepidemiology of a central California pre-historic population from CA-Ala-329: dental disease. Am J Phys Anthropol 81:323-342.
56. Kashket S, Yaskell T, Murphy JE. 1994. Delayed effect of wheat starch in foods on the intraoral demineralization of enamel. Caries Res 28:291-296.
57. Kennedy KAR. 1984. Growth, nutrition and pathology in changing paleodemographic settings in South Asia. In: Cohen MN, Armelagos GJ, editors. Paleopathology at the origins of agriculture. New York: Academic Press. p 169-192.
58. Khalayla H, Marder O. 2003. The Neolithic site of Abu Gosh, the 1995 excavation. Israel Antiquities Authority reports 19. Jerusalem: Israel Antiquities Authority.
59. Kieser JA, Dennison KJ, Kaidonis JA, Huang D, Herbison PGP, Tayles NG. 2001a. Patterns of dental wear in the Early Maori dentition. Int J Osteoarchaeol 11:206-217.
60. Kieser JA, Kelsen A, Love R, Herbison PGP, Dennison KJ. 2001b. Periapical lesions and dental wear in the Early Maori. Int J Osteoarchaeol 11:290-297.
61. Kislev M. 1997. Early agriculture and paleoecology of Netiv Hagdud. In: Bar-Yosef O, Gopher A, editors. An early Neolithic village in the Jordan Valley, I: the archaeology of Netiv Hagdud. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. p 209-236.
62. Kuijt I, Goring-Morris NA. 2002. Forging, farming and social complexity in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic of the southern Levant: a review and synthesis. J World Prehist 16:361-440.
63. Larsen CS. 1981. Skeletal and dental adaptations to the shift to agriculture on the Georgia Coast population. Curr Anthropol 22:422-423.
64. Larsen CS. 1995. Biological changes in human populations with agriculture. Annu Rev Anthropol 24:185-213.
65. Larsen CS, Shavit R, Griffin MC. 1991. Dental caries evidence for dietary change: an archaeological context. In: Kelly MA, Larsen CS, editors. Advances in dental anthropology. New York: Wiley-Liss. p 179-202.
66. Lavigne SE, Molto JE. 1995. System of measurements of the severity of periodontal disease in past populations. Int J Osteoarchaeol 5:265-273.
67. Lechevallier M. 1978. Abou Gosh et Beisamoun. Deux gisements du Vile millénaire avant l'ère Chrétienne en Israël. Mémoires et travaux du Centre de Recherches Préhistoriques Français de Jerusalem. Paris: Association Paléorient.
68. Lechevallier M, Ronen A. 1994. Le gisement de Hatoula en Judée occidental, Israël. Paris: Association Paléorient.
69. Leek F. 1972. Teeth and bread in ancient Egypt. J Egypt Archaeol 58:126-132.
70. Lev-Tov N, Gopher A, Smith P. 2003. Dental evidence for dietary practices in the Chalcolithic period: the findings from a burial cave in Peqi'in (northern Israel). Paleorient 29:121-134.
71. Lieverse AR. 1999. Diet and the aetiology of dental calculus. Int J Osteoarchaeol 9:219-232.
72. Liphschitz N, Bonani G. 2001. Wild and cultivated date palm, Phoenix dactylifera, from Qumran Cave 24. Tel Aviv 28:305-309.
73. Lipschultz JG. 1997. Who were the Natufians? A dental assessment of their biological coherency. Dent Anthropol 11:4-12.
74. Littleton J, Frohlich B. 1993. Fish-eaters and farmers: dental pathology in the Arabian Gulf. Am J Phys Anthropol 92:427-447.
75. Luan WM, Baelum V, Chen X, Fejenskov O. 1989. Dental caries in adult and elderly Chinese. J Dent Res 68:1771-1776.
76. Lubell D, Jackes M, Schwarcz H, Knyf M, Meiklejohn C. 1994. The Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in Portugal: isotopic and dental evidence of diet. J Archaeol Sci 21:201-216.
77. Lukacs J. 1989. Dental paleopathology: methods of reconstructing dietary patterns. In: Iscan M, Kennedy K, editors. Reconstruction of life from the skeleton. New York: A.R. Liss. p 261-286.
78. Lukacs JR. 1992. Dental paleopathology and agricultural intensification in South Asia: new evidence from Bronze Age Harappa. Am J Phys Anthropol 87:133-150.
79. Lukacs JR, Retief DH, Jarrige JF. 1985. Dental disease in pre-historic Baluchistan. Natl Geogr Res 1:184-197.
80. Maat G, Van der Velde E. 1987. The caries attrition competition. Int J Anthropol 2:281-292.
81. Maat G, Lonnee H, Noordhuizen H. 1990. Analysis of human skeletons from Hellenistic period, buried at the ruined Bronze Age building on Failaka, Kuwait. Trav Maison Orient 18:85-102.
82. Macchiarelli R. 1989. Prehistoric "fish eaters" along the eastern Arabian coasts: dental variation, morphology, and oral health in the Ra's al Hamra community (Qurum, Sultanate of Oman, 5th-4th millennia BC). Am J Phys Anthropol 78:575-594.
83. McCown T. 1939. The Natufian crania from Mount Carmel (Palestine) and their interrelationship. Ph.D. thesis, University of California, Berkeley.
84. Meiklejohn C, Schentag C, Venema A, Key P. 1984. Socioeconomic change and patterns of pathology and variation in the Mesolithic and Neolithic of Western Europe: some suggesions. In: Cohen MN, Armelagos GJ, editors. Paleopathology at the origins of agriculture. New York: Academic Press. p 75-100.
85. Meiklejohn C, Baldwin JH, Schentag CT. 1988. Caries as a probable dietary marker in the Western European Mesolithic In: Kennedy BV, LeMoine GM, editors. Diet and subsistence: current archaeological perspectives. University of Calgary Archaeologic Association. p 273-279.
86. Meiklejohn C, Wyman JW, Schentag CT. 1992. Caries and attrition: dependent or independent variables? Int J Anthropol 7:17-22.
87. Milner GR. 1984. Dental caries in the permanent dentition of a Mississippian period population from the American Midwest. Coll Anthropol 8:77-91.
88. Molleson T. 1994. The eloquent bones of Abu Hureyra. Sci Am 271:70-75.
89. Molnar S. 1971. Human tooth wear, tooth function, and cultural variability. Am J Phys Anthropol 34:175-190.
90. Molnar S. 1972. Tooth wear and culture: a survey of tooth functions among some prehistoric populations. Curr Anthropol 13:511-526.
91. Molnar S, Molnar I. 1985. Observations of dental diseases among prehistoric populations of Hungary. Am J Phys Anthropol 67:51-63.
92. Moore WJ, Corbett ME. 1983. Dental and alveolar infection. In: Hart GD, editor. Disease in ancient men. Toronto: Clarke Irwin. p 139-155.
93. Newman HN. 1974. Diet, attrition, plaque and dental disease. Br Dent J 136:491.
94. Noy T, Legge AJ, Higgs ES. 1973. Recent excavations at Nahal Oren, Israel. Proc Prehist Soc 39:75-99.
95. Ortner DJ, Putschar WGJ. 1985. Identification of pathological conditions in human skeletal remains. 2nd ed. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press. p 22-23,28.
96. Pastor R. 1992. Dietary adaptations and dental microwear in Mesolithic and Chalcolithic South Asia. J Hum Ecol [Special Issue] 2:215-228.
97. Powell ML. 1985. The analysis of dental wear and caries for dietary reconstruction. In: Gilbert RI, Mielke JH, editors. The analysis of prehistoric diets. Orlando: Academic Press. p 307-338.
98. Puech PF. 1979. The diet of early man: evidence from abrasion of teeth and tools. Curr Anthropol 20:590-592.
99. Rathbun TH. 1984. Skeletal pathology from the Paleolithic through the metal ages in Iran and Iraq. In: Cohen MN, Armelagos GJ, editors. Paleopathology at the origins of agriculture. New York: Academic Press. p 137-168.
100. Rollefson GO. 2001. The Neolithic period. In: MacDonal B, Adams R, Bienkowski P, editors. The archaeology of Jordan. Sheffield: Academic Press. p 67-105.
101. Scott E. 1979. Dental wear scoring technique. Am J Phys Anthropol 51:213-217.
102. Scott GR, Turner CG. II 1988. Dental anthropology. Annu Rev Anthropol 17:99-126.
103. Smith BH. 1982. Is there a human pattern of tooth wear? Am J Phys Anthropol 57:229.
104. Smith BH. 1984. Patterns of molar wear in hunter-gatheres and agriculturalists. Am J Phys Anthropol 63:39-56.
105. Smith P. 1970. Dental morphology and pathology in Natufians. The dental evidence for dietary specialization. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Chicago.
106. Smith P. 1972. Diet and attrition in the Natufian. Am J Phys Anthropol 37:233-238.
107. Smith P. 1973. Family burials at Hayonim. Paleorient 1:69-71.
108. Smith P. 1989. Paleonutrition and subsistence patterns in the Natufian. In: Hershkovitz I, editor. People and culture in change. Proceedings of the Second Symposium on Upper Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic populations of Europe and the Mediterranean Basin. B.A.R. international series 508. Oxford: B.A.R. p 375-384.
109. Smith P, Bar-Yosef O, Sillen A. 1984. Archaeological and skeletal evidence for dietary change during the late Pleistocene/ early Holocene in the Levant. In: Cohen MN, Armelagos GJ, editors. Paleopathology at the origins of agriculture. New York: Academic Press. p 101-136.
110. Solell-Sharron I. 1992. The transition from hunting-gathering economy to food producing economy in Israeli prehistoric populations: its effect on the dentition. Thesis for doctor of dental medicine, Tel Aviv University.
111. Sreebny LM. 1983. Cereal availability in dental caries. Community Dent Oral Epidemiol 11:148-155.
112. Stekelis M, Yizraely T. 1963. Excavations at Nahal Oren. Isr Explor J 13:1-12.
113. Strohm TF, Alt KW. 1998. Periodontal disease-etiology, classification and diagnosis. In: Alt KW, Rosing FW, Teschler-Nicola M, editors. Dental anthropology. Vienna: Springer. p 227-246.
114. Tal H. 1985. Periodontal bone loss in dry mandibles of South African blacks: a biometric study. J Dent Res 64:925-929.
115. Turner C. 1979. Dental anthropological indications of agriculture among the Jomon people of central Japan. Am J Phys Anthropol 51:19-636.
116. Ubelaker DH. 1980. Human skeletal remains from site OGSE-SO, a preceramic site on the Santa Elena Peninsula, coastal Ecuador. J Wash Acad Sci 70:3-24.
117. Valla FR, Khalaily H, Samuelian N, Bocquentin F, Delange C, Valentin B, Plisson H, Rabinovitch R, Belfer-Cohen A. 1998. Le Natoufien final et les nouvelles fouilles à Mallaha (Eynan), Israël, 1996-1997. J Isr Prehist Soc 28:105-176.
118. Valla FR, Khalaily H, Samuelian N, March R, Bocquentin F, Valentin B, Marder O, Rabinovich R, Le Dosseur G, Dubreuil L, Belfer Cohen A. 2001. Le Natoufien final de Mallaha (Eynan), deuxième rapport préliminaire: les fouilles de 1998 et 1999. J Isr Prehist Soc 31:43-184.
119. Walker PL. 1978. A quantitative analysis of dental attrition rates in the Santa Barbara Channel area. Am J Phys Anthropol 48:101-106.
120. Walker PL, Erlandson J. 1986. Dental evidence for prehistoric dietary change on the northern Channel Islands. Am Antiq 51:375-383.
121. Walker PL, Dean G, Shapiro P. 1991. Estimating age from tooth wear in archaeological populations. In: Kelly MA, Larsen CS, editors. Advances in dental anthropology. New York: Wiley-Liss. p 169-178.
122. Zohar I, Dayan T, Galili E, Spanier E. 2001. Fish processing during the Early Holocene: a taphonomic case study from coastal Israel. J Archaeol Sci 28:1-13.