Dental Health Assessment of Nil Kham Haeng and Its Implications in Prehistoric Central Thailand

Summary

Three adjacent, chronologically overlapped, and metallurgically active sites in central Thailand were excavated by the Thailand Archaeometallurgy Project (TAP). This study focuses on dental pathology (caries, calculus, periapical abscessing, antemortem tooth loss, linear enamel hypoplasia) observed on human skeletal remains from Nil Kham Haeng (500 B.C.-A.D. 600) to investigate possible foodways and lifeways of its inhabitants. Among approximately 20 individuals represented, 16 have sufficient dental elements preserved for observation (252 teeth, 145 sockets). When the results are contextualized with another TAP site of Non Mak La and other contemporaneous sites in the region, Nil Kham Haeng shows high prevalence of dental calculus, moderate level of antemortem tooth loss, and negligible to no occurrence for all other indicators. This pattern is consistent with that observed across prehistoric Mainland Southeast Asia. This can be attributable to the consumption of rice and/or millet as staples and broad-spectrum diets. Combined with pending stable isotope analysis, a clearer picture of Nil Kham Haeng dietary pattern will contribute to the poorly understood human lifeways in prehistoric central Thailand.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 22575