Dental Calculus (Other Keyword)
1-12 (12 Records)
Paleodiet analysis from individuals found inside the Great Temple ritual deposits have been succesfully conducted by analyzing carbon and nitrogen isotopes, with the aim of distinguishing between marine and terrestrial diets. Recently, we incorporated microbotanical analysis of dental calculus to these studies in order to search for plants remains, with the goal of having a broad picture of ancient diet and paramasticatory use of the oral cavity. For this purpose we selected individuals with...
Ancient DNA Analysis of Microbes Preserved in Dental Calculus: Challenges And Opportunities (2018)
Sequencing ancient microorganisms using next generation sequencing approaches have truly revolutionized our view of the past. While past paleomicrobiological research was largely restricted to coprolites and sediments, the recent analyses of ancient calcified dental plaque has provided novel insights into ancient human diets, disease, behaviors, and lifestyles. Despite the benefits, obtaining DNA from diverse microbial communities is difficult and is fraught with issues for first time...
DENTAL CALCULUS ANALYSIS OF A SINGLE TOOTH FROM SITE SON:F:10:3, MEXICO (2005)
Dental calculus was recovered from a burial in northern Sonora, Mexico was submitted for analysis that would identify any pollen, phytoliths, starches, or other identifiable remains that might inform concerning the diet of the individual.
Dietary Patterns of Paquime: New Evidence from Dental Calculus and Microfossils (2016)
As part of a larger multinational project, we gathered and analyzed 112 samples of dental calculus (fossilized plaque) from human remains discovered at Paquimé and other sites in the Casas Grandes river valley to identify various microfossils still present in the silica matrix. Once identified, we used the prehistoric plant remains to reconstruct human/plant relationships present during the Viejo and Medio periods in and around Paquimé. Our data suggest that maize was used throughout both time...
An extant example of warm-climate forager gastrophagy and its implications for extinct hominin diets. (2015)
Accounts of gastrophagy (consumption of prey stomach material) are widespread in ethnography. The practice is recorded from different latitudes, subsistence strategies and with a wide variety of prey; however, many such reports are anecdotal. Conversely, where recent authors mention gastrophagy it is typically marginal to their main research. Little is therefore known about the frequency, seasonality, demographic factors, species composition, and relative dietary contribution of gastrophagy and...
Further evidence for a terrestrial-focused protein diet in prehistoric Rapa Nui (2015)
Previous analyses of subsistence activities on Rapa Nui generated new classes of data to explain human persistence on this remote, subtropical and ecologically-marginal island. Even compared to other small to medium-sized islands in Eastern Polynesia, Rapa Nui appears anomalous for: 1) an apparent shift away from marine protein sources, determined from stable isotope analysis of bone collagen, and 2) a far greater reliance on a single terrestrial carbohydrate (Ipomoea batatas), determined from...
Insights from Neandertal dental calculus: tracking Pacific colonization events using ancient bacteria (2016)
Interpreting the evolutionary history of bacterial communities within the human body (microbiota) is key to understanding multiple aspects of disease transmission and human health. This tight association between humans and their microorganisms can also be exploited to track past human interactions, providing information on past human movements and their introductions to new locations or environments. Using a shotgun sequencing approach on ancient DNA from the dental calculus in Neandertals,...
Paleodiet in the Atacama Desert (Arica, Chile) and Andean Highlands (Ayacucho Basin, Peru) Using Stable Isotope Analyses of Dental Calculus (2017)
Long-considered a nuisance, dental calculus has recently enjoyed attention as a potentially useful alternative biomaterial for a variety of anthropological applications, including stable isotope analysis as a technique to study paleodiet. Carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes of dental calculus have been measured for populations near Arica, Chile in the Atacama Desert (Archaic-Late Intermediate period), and post-Wari (Late Intermediate Period) populations from the Ayacucho Basin, Peru in the...
PHYTOLITH AND STARCH ANALYSIS OF A TOOTH TARTAR SAMPLE FROM SEAMAN MOUND, UTAH (2009)
A small sample of tooth tartar (calculus) was submitted for phytolith and starch grain analysis. This tartar was removed from the teeth of a 12 year old male by Darrell Thomas, D.D.S., Salt Lake City, Utah. This individual was discovered during an excavation conducted by BYU at the Seaman Mound Site. This site is located in a delta estuary of the Provo River flowing into Utah Lake. The goal of this analysis is to gain a better understanding of some of the foods that this individual had ingested...
Plant food consumption among modern foragers informs Paleolithic dietary ecology (2015)
Reconstructing hominin diets is hindered by biases in the methods used to recover dietary information, and by our narrow interpretations of modern forager behavior. A better understanding of these limitations necessitates re-examination of dietary evidence in the archaeological record. Zooarchaeological and stable isotope data suggest that medium and large game dominated the diets of Middle and Upper Paleolithic foragers, and environmental reconstructions indicate that energetic returns from...
POLLEN, PHYTOLITH, AND STARCH GRAIN ANALYSIS OF DENTAL CALCULUS FROM NEMRIK 9, A PRE-POTTERY NEOLITHIC SITE IN NORTHERN IRAQ (2011)
Human teeth with visible dental calculus were submitted for pollen, phytolith and starch grain analysis from the Nemrik 9 site, located in Northern Iraq. The samples comprise single and multiple teeth from 11 different contexts. Nemrik 9 is a pre-pottery neolithic site on the eastern edge of the Fertile Crescent. The goal of this analysis is to provide subsistence information and data useful for better understanding the origins of agriculture in this region.
Starch Grain Analysis of Human Dental Calculus from Guanzhuang Site, Henan Province (2017)
This research aims to investigate the human foodstuffs and lifestyle during the Western and Eastern Zhou Dynasties in the core area of the Central Plains using starch grain analysis of human dental calculus. Plant microfossils, starch grains and phytoliths, which were found in most of calculus samples from Guanzhuang site, were from millets, bread wheat, rice, adzuki, tubers and acorns. Diversity of starch grains and phytoliths in morphological characteristics extracted from dental calculus...