What Lovely Teeth You Have: An Examination of Canid Dental Anomalies and Their Use in Archaeology

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Interdisciplinary Approaches in Zooarchaeology: Addressing Big Questions with Ancient Animals" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

A survey of over 200 published sources on archaeological domestic dogs in the Americas reveals that dental anomalies, particularly the absence of the first mandibular premolar, are mentioned in Native American domestic dogs with some frequency. They have even been promoted as a means of identifying domestic dogs in the Americas. However, this pattern has never been received a detailed examination. Traced through the literature, this idea appears to stem from Dr. Edward Cope’s analysis of a single dog mandible from what is today known as the Palmer-Taylor Mound in Orange County, Florida (published by Clarence B. Moore, 1893). When placed in context, it becomes apparent that congenital tooth loss occurs in modern wolves, coyotes, and foxes at rates approaching 10%. Though most veterinary sources focus on physically small purebred dogs where this condition is particularly common, dogs subjected to less selective pressure exhibit this characteristic at a rate of only 3%–7%. These data suggest that congenital tooth loss is not a reliable marker of domestication in dogs.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Interdisciplinary Approaches in Zooarchaeology: Addressing Big Questions with Ancient Animals   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38062.0