You Better Be-Leaf It: Microbotanical Remains Found in Dental Calculus of Individuals from Actun Kabul, Belize

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Dental calculus (DC), the mineralized plaque or tartar on a tooth’s surface, is formed and fossilized during life. Foodstuffs and medicinal plants that people interact with in life can be caught in the DC matrix. Because DC fossilizes during life, researchers can decalcify DC and analyze the microbotanicals, proteins, and aDNA trapped inside. Microbotanical analysis was conducted on multiple individuals from the site of Actun Kabul, Belize. Dietary isotopic data has previously been collected from these individuals. While the isotopic data provides information on the ratios of C3 to C4 plants and of terrestrial to marine protein for each individual, microbotanical remains provide a more nuanced view of what food and medicine an individual had access to and consumed. Because there are few microbotanical studies of DC in the Maya region, this study aims to demonstrate the feasibility of the method and discuss its applicability in Mesoamerican research.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39325.0