Simon Hillson
Biographic Data
| ID | 91480 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Simon Hillson |
| GIVEN NAMES | Simon |
| FAMILY NAME | Hillson |
| SIGNATURE | HILLSON S |
| AFFILIATIONS | University College London |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-8557-0111 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 52 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 522 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 52 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1979 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2022 |
| H-INDEX | 12 |
Geometric morphometric variability in the supraorbital and orbital region of Middle Pleistocene hominins
Twenty-first century bioarchaeology
This article presents outcomes from a Workshop entitled "Bioarchaeology: Taking Stock and Moving Forward," which was held at Arizona State University (ASU) on March 6-8, 2020. Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the School of Human Evolution and Social Change (ASU), and the Center for Bioarchaeological Research (CBR, ASU), the Workshop's overall goal was to explore reasons why research proposals submitted by bioarchaeologists, both g…
A critical assessment of the potential for Structure‐from‐Motion photogrammetry to produce high fidelity 3D dental models
OBJECTIVES: The recent proliferation of methods of 3D model generation has enabled the development of new approaches to the analysis of dental form, function and wear. This article assesses whether Structure-from-motion (SfM) photogrammetry is capable of producing virtual 3D models of teeth of adequate quality for assessing fine scale surface details, such as dental macrowear patterns. Reference models were generated using a high resolution struc…
Taxonomic variation in the supraorbital region of catarrhine primates
OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to test the taxonomic utility of the catarrhine supraorbital region using 3D geometric morphometrics, with the aim of establishing its potential use in elucidating the position of more debated hominin groups. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 230 3D coordinates were used to record the supraorbital morphology of two datasets: one containing 460 non-hominin catarrhine primates from species and subspecies of Gorilla, Pan, Papio, an…
Nondestructive adult age at death estimation
OBJECTIVES: Adult age at death estimation continues to challenge physical anthropologists. One estimation method involves counting tooth cementum annulations (TCA). Non-destructively accessing TCA is a critical step to approaching fossil teeth of unknown age and to verifying life history profiles of human ancestors. This pilot study aims to (a) non-destructively image TCA in teeth from a known age archeological human population by propagation pha…
Periodontal disease and ‘oral health’ in the past
As one of today’s major oral health issues, periodontal disease affects populations worldwide. Here, methods used to record its past prevalence are reviewed, including the problems associated with the use of measurements to record bone loss. Clinical and bioarchaeological research offers strong support for the Kerr method that records interdental septum morphological changes as a means of identifying gingivitis and periodontal disease. Using Kerr…
Counting Perikymata Using a Low-Power Stereomicroscope
Disturbances and noise
OBJECTIVES: The investigation of the record of growth locked in dental enamel provides a unique opportunity to build a comprehensive picture of growth disruption episodes during childhood. This study presents a new methodological basis for the analysis of enamel growth disruptions (enamel hypoplasia) using incremental microstructures of enamel. METHODS: A three-dimensional technique based upon use of an Alicona 3D Infinite Focus imaging microscop…
Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis at Neolithic Çatalhöyük
Bioarchaeology of Neolithic Çatalhöyük
Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis and dietary reconstruction through the life course at Neolithic Çatalhöyük, Turkey
Food has long served as a mechanism for identifying and reinforcing social structures, but while carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis has provided important identity-based evidence of past diets, the cyclical and stable/fluid nature of food consumption practices across the life course has been relatively neglected. In this paper, the large human assemblage at Çatalhöyük with all age groups present has enabled diet reconstruction of the rarely rep…
Tooth Development in Human Evolution and Bioarchaeology
Human children grow at a uniquely slow pace by comparison with other mammals. When and where did this schedule evolve? Have technological advances, farming and cities had any effect upon it? Addressing these and other key questions in palaeoanthropology and bioarchaeology, Simon Hillson examines the unique role of teeth in preserving detailed microscopic records of development throughout childhood and into adulthood. The text critically reviews t…
Application of the B ang and R amm age at death estimation method to two known‐age archaeological assemblages
The Bang and Ramm method uses root dentine translucency (RDT) length in sectioned or unsectioned teeth as a sole indicator of chronological age at death in adult human remains. The formulae have been tested on modern remains of known age and on modern and archaeological remains of unknown age. This is the first published study of the method on known‐age archaeological specimens and tests whether RDT is a good indicator of chronological age in bur…
Do larger molars and robust jaws in early hominins represent dietary adaptation?’ A New Study in Tooth Wear
Diet imposes significant constraints on the biology and behaviour of animals. The fossil record suggests that key changes in diet have taken place throughout the course of human evolution. Defining these changes enables us to understand the behaviour of our extinct fossil ancestors. Several lines of evidence are available for studying the diet of early hominins, including craniodental morphology, palaeoecology, dental microwear and stable isotope…
Benjamin Franklin, William Hewson and the Craven Street bones
Renovation of the house in London where Benjamin Franklin lived has led to the discovery of the remains of a late eighteenth-century anatomy school. Investigations by bioarchaeologists from the Institute are revealing William Hewson's remarkable contribution to the development of anatomical science
Mummies and dental health in the ancient Ilo valley, southern Peru
In the very arid climate of southern Peru, archaeological remains, including many human burials, are extremely well preserved. Study of the teeth of mummified people from different cultural groups and time periods is beginning to provide evidence of diet and disease among the ancient inhabitants of the Ilo valley between the foot-hills of the Andes and the desert coast
Famine, the Black Death, and health in fourteenth-century London
In the first half of the fourteenth century two catastrophes struck the population of Europe: the Great Famine and the Black Death. The latter has been extensively studied, but much less is known about the biological effects of the Great Famine. A large assemblage of skeletal remains from one of the Black Death burial grounds, the Royal Mint cemetery in London, provides a unique opportunity to investigate these effects by analyzing the teeth of i…
Investigating ancient cemeteries on the island of Astypalaia, Greece
As first mentioned in last year's issue (AI 2000-2001, p.4), the Institute has joined the 22nd Ephorate of the Greek archaeological service in a three-year study of human remains from two recently discovered cemeteries on the island of Astypalaia, which date back to the first millennium BC. The member of staff of the Institute who collaborates on the project with Greek colleagues describes the work undertaken during the first field season and the…
Intrapopulation variation in macro tooth wear patterns—a case study from Igloolik, Canada
The pattern of human tooth wear—the way it varies between teeth in the mouth—is crucial to our understanding of important questions in archeology and paleoanthropology, such as the contrasts in diet and behavior between Neanderthals and early modern humans in Europe and Asia, or with the adoption of agriculture in the Americas. Little is known, however, about the way in which wear patterns develop with increasing age or the way in which they diff…
Brief communication
The present study investigates the utility of cervical measurements in deciduous teeth and how they correlate with traditional measurements of the crown. First, this study establishes definitions by which these measurements could reliably be taken. Next, deciduous cervical and traditional crown diameters were taken on three distinct skeletal samples: a Neolithic assemblage from Central Anatolia (Çatalhöyük, n = 85), a precontact sample from North…
Tooth wear, Neanderthal facial morphology and the anterior dental loading hypothesis
The Anterior Dental Loading Hypothesis states that the unique Neanderthal facial and dental anatomy was an adaptive response to the regular application of heavy forces resulting from both the masticatory and cultural use of the anterior teeth. Heavy anterior tooth wear frequently observed in Neanderthal specimens is cited as a main source of evidence for heavy forces being applied to these teeth. From this, it might be predicted that the wear sho…
The earliest evidence for anatomically modern humans in northwestern Europe
Periodontal disease in a Portuguese identified skeletal sample from the late nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries
Periodontal status was investigated in 600 adult dentitions belonging to the identified osteological collections curated at the University of Coimbra, Portugal. These collections date to a point temporally intermediate between the large epidemiological studies of the 20th century and archaeological collections that antedate the 19th century. The aim of this study is to compare periodontal data derived from contemporary samples with statistics com…
Technical note
The number and spacing of incremental markings at the enamel surface, known as perikymata, are considered important indicators of dental growth patterns, as they provide information on crown formation times and the underlying developmental processes. This study explores the potential of a new three‐dimensional technique for the reconstruction of dental growth profiles, using teeth from a medieval child from Abingdon, Oxfordshire. The crowns of th…
Two hominin incisor teeth from the middle Pleistocene site of Boxgrove, Sussex, England
Recording dental caries in archaeological human remains
Dental caries is an important condition to record in archaeological collections, but the way in which recording is carried out has a large effect on the way in which the results can be interpreted. In living populations, dental caries is a disease that shows a strong relationship with age. Both the nature of carious lesions and their frequency change with successive age groups from childhood to elderly adulthood. There is also a progression in th…
Diet and dental disease
Diet is a controlling factor in several common groups of dental diseases. These include those due to bacterial deposits on the teeth and to defects of dental structure. Much recent research has been carried out, so that the relationship of diet to these diseases is now well known. This allows the frequencies of occurrence of dental diseases in ancient skeletal material to be used as indicators of the diet eaten by the population during life. A de…
Linear enamel hypoplasias as indicators of systemic physiological stress
Enamel hypoplasias are useful indicators of systemic growth disturbances during childhood, and are routinely used to investigate patterns of morbidity and mortality in past populations. This study examined the pattern of linear enamel hypoplasias in two different burial populations from 18th and 19th Century church crypts in London. Linear enamel hypoplasias on the permanent dentitions of individuals from the crypt of Christ Church, Spitalfields,…
Alternative dental measurements
Most archaeological and fossil teeth are heavily worn, and this greatly limits the usefulness of tooth crown diameter measurements, as they are usually defined at the widest points of the crown. There are alternatives, particularly measurements at the cervix of the tooth, where the crown joints the root, and measurements along a diagonal axis in molars, that are much less affected by wear. These would allow a wider range of specimens to be includ…
Two hominin incisor teeth from the middle Pleistocene site of Boxgrove, Sussex, England
Tooth wear, Neanderthal facial morphology and the anterior dental loading hypothesis
The Anterior Dental Loading Hypothesis states that the unique Neanderthal facial and dental anatomy was an adaptive response to the regular application of heavy forces resulting from both the masticatory and cultural use of the anterior teeth. Heavy anterior tooth wear frequently observed in Neanderthal specimens is cited as a main source of evidence for heavy forces being applied to these teeth. From this, it might be predicted that the wear sho…
Bioarchaeology of Neolithic Çatalhöyük
Twenty-first century bioarchaeology
This article presents outcomes from a Workshop entitled "Bioarchaeology: Taking Stock and Moving Forward," which was held at Arizona State University (ASU) on March 6-8, 2020. Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the School of Human Evolution and Social Change (ASU), and the Center for Bioarchaeological Research (CBR, ASU), the Workshop's overall goal was to explore reasons why research proposals submitted by bioarchaeologists, both g…
Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis at Neolithic Çatalhöyük
Dolnı Věstonice 15
Instruments for-measuring surface profiles
Human Remains from the Moravian Gravettian
Dental caries in a Portuguese identified skeletal sample from the late 19th and early 20th centuries
Dental caries was investigated in 600 adult dentitions belonging to the identified osteological collections of the Museum of Anthropology, University of Coimbra, Portugal (late 19th/early 20th centuries). The main advantage of this sample compared to an archaeological source is the presence of known demographic parameters such as age, sex, and occupation. The aim of this study is to investigate the issues involved in comparing caries data derived…
Periodontal disease in a Portuguese identified skeletal sample from the late nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries
Periodontal status was investigated in 600 adult dentitions belonging to the identified osteological collections curated at the University of Coimbra, Portugal. These collections date to a point temporally intermediate between the large epidemiological studies of the 20th century and archaeological collections that antedate the 19th century. The aim of this study is to compare periodontal data derived from contemporary samples with statistics com…
Impression and replica methods for studying hypoplasia and perikymata on human tooth crown surfaces from archaeological sites
Perikymata and enamel hypoplasia can be studied most easily by light and scanning electron microscopy of replicas rather than of the original tooth crown surface. Delicate archaeological specimens require special handling. Selection of specimens and cleaning technique are some of the most important factors in producing good replicas, and this paper outlines procedures that have been developed over some years. Several widely available materials pr…
Nondestructive adult age at death estimation
OBJECTIVES: Adult age at death estimation continues to challenge physical anthropologists. One estimation method involves counting tooth cementum annulations (TCA). Non-destructively accessing TCA is a critical step to approaching fossil teeth of unknown age and to verifying life history profiles of human ancestors. This pilot study aims to (a) non-destructively image TCA in teeth from a known age archeological human population by propagation pha…
Intrapopulation variation in macro tooth wear patterns—a case study from Igloolik, Canada
The pattern of human tooth wear—the way it varies between teeth in the mouth—is crucial to our understanding of important questions in archeology and paleoanthropology, such as the contrasts in diet and behavior between Neanderthals and early modern humans in Europe and Asia, or with the adoption of agriculture in the Americas. Little is known, however, about the way in which wear patterns develop with increasing age or the way in which they diff…
Technical note
The number and spacing of incremental markings at the enamel surface, known as perikymata, are considered important indicators of dental growth patterns, as they provide information on crown formation times and the underlying developmental processes. This study explores the potential of a new three‐dimensional technique for the reconstruction of dental growth profiles, using teeth from a medieval child from Abingdon, Oxfordshire. The crowns of th…
Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis and dietary reconstruction through the life course at Neolithic Çatalhöyük, Turkey
Food has long served as a mechanism for identifying and reinforcing social structures, but while carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis has provided important identity-based evidence of past diets, the cyclical and stable/fluid nature of food consumption practices across the life course has been relatively neglected. In this paper, the large human assemblage at Çatalhöyük with all age groups present has enabled diet reconstruction of the rarely rep…
The chapel and enclosure on the Brough of Deerness, Orkney
Excavations took place at this site in 1975-6, followed by a survey in 1977, at the invitation of the Inspectorate of Ancient Monuments, as clearance of turf and rubble had previously revealed a hoard of post-medieval coins. Further coins were found, which relate to the period after usage of the chapel had ceased: the group is interpreted in votive terms and related to accounts of pilgrimage to the site. The unicameral chapel itself had both a ti…
Taxonomic variation in the supraorbital region of catarrhine primates
OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to test the taxonomic utility of the catarrhine supraorbital region using 3D geometric morphometrics, with the aim of establishing its potential use in elucidating the position of more debated hominin groups. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 230 3D coordinates were used to record the supraorbital morphology of two datasets: one containing 460 non-hominin catarrhine primates from species and subspecies of Gorilla, Pan, Papio, an…
Disturbances and noise
OBJECTIVES: The investigation of the record of growth locked in dental enamel provides a unique opportunity to build a comprehensive picture of growth disruption episodes during childhood. This study presents a new methodological basis for the analysis of enamel growth disruptions (enamel hypoplasia) using incremental microstructures of enamel. METHODS: A three-dimensional technique based upon use of an Alicona 3D Infinite Focus imaging microscop…
Brief communication
The present study investigates the utility of cervical measurements in deciduous teeth and how they correlate with traditional measurements of the crown. First, this study establishes definitions by which these measurements could reliably be taken. Next, deciduous cervical and traditional crown diameters were taken on three distinct skeletal samples: a Neolithic assemblage from Central Anatolia (Çatalhöyük, n = 85), a precontact sample from North…
A critical assessment of the potential for Structure‐from‐Motion photogrammetry to produce high fidelity 3D dental models
OBJECTIVES: The recent proliferation of methods of 3D model generation has enabled the development of new approaches to the analysis of dental form, function and wear. This article assesses whether Structure-from-motion (SfM) photogrammetry is capable of producing virtual 3D models of teeth of adequate quality for assessing fine scale surface details, such as dental macrowear patterns. Reference models were generated using a high resolution struc…
Geometric morphometric variability in the supraorbital and orbital region of Middle Pleistocene hominins
Diet and dental disease
Diet is a controlling factor in several common groups of dental diseases. These include those due to bacterial deposits on the teeth and to defects of dental structure. Much recent research has been carried out, so that the relationship of diet to these diseases is now well known. This allows the frequencies of occurrence of dental diseases in ancient skeletal material to be used as indicators of the diet eaten by the population during life. A de…
The chapel and enclosure on the Brough of Deerness, Orkney
Excavations took place at this site in 1975-6, followed by a survey in 1977, at the invitation of the Inspectorate of Ancient Monuments, as clearance of turf and rubble had previously revealed a hoard of post-medieval coins. Further coins were found, which relate to the period after usage of the chapel had ceased: the group is interpreted in votive terms and related to accounts of pilgrimage to the site. The unicameral chapel itself had both a ti…
Human evolution. An introduction for the behavioural sciences
Instruments for-measuring surface profiles
The Anatomy and Biology of the Human Skeleton
The Holocene
Mechanisms of human dental reduction. A case study from post-pleistocene nubia
Impression and replica methods for studying hypoplasia and perikymata on human tooth crown surfaces from archaeological sites
Perikymata and enamel hypoplasia can be studied most easily by light and scanning electron microscopy of replicas rather than of the original tooth crown surface. Delicate archaeological specimens require special handling. Selection of specimens and cleaning technique are some of the most important factors in producing good replicas, and this paper outlines procedures that have been developed over some years. Several widely available materials pr…
Dental Anthropology
Teeth are one of the best sources of evidence for both identification and studies of demography, biological relationships and health in ancient human communities. This text introduces the complex biology of teeth and provides a practical guide to the: • excavation, cleaning, storage and recording of dental remains • identification of human teeth including those in a worn or fragmentary state • methods for studying variation in tooth morphology • …
Relationship of enamel hypoplasia to the pattern of tooth crown growth
The defects of enamel hypoplasia can be related to the layered structure of enamel which represents the sequence of development in tooth crowns. From such studies, it is possible to see that furrow-type enamel defects (the most common form of hypoplasia seen with the naked eye) are just the most prominent expression of a continuum which extends ever smaller, down to a microscopic disturbance to a single layer in the crown formation sequence. Furt…
Benjamin Franklin, William Hewson and the Craven Street bones
Dental defects of congenital syphilis
Diagnosis of the congenital form of syphilis is an important part of the palaeopathology of this disease. In theory, there are clear clinical signs to be found in the long bones and teeth, but it has rarely been possible to recognise the latter with a confidence in archaeological material, partly because the original descriptions of the dental deformities are sometimes contradictory and partly because it is nowadays difficult to find reference sp…
Dental Anthropology
Human Remains from the Moravian Gravettian
Cannibalism and violence
Investigating ancient cemeteries on the island of Astypalaia, Greece
Recording dental caries in archaeological human remains
Dental caries is an important condition to record in archaeological collections, but the way in which recording is carried out has a large effect on the way in which the results can be interpreted. In living populations, dental caries is a disease that shows a strong relationship with age. Both the nature of carious lesions and their frequency change with successive age groups from childhood to elderly adulthood. There is also a progression in th…
Dolnı Věstonice 15
Recording dental caries in archaeological human remains
Dental caries is an important condition to record in archaeological collections, but the way in which recording is carried out has a large effect on the way in which the results can be interpreted. In living populations, dental caries is a disease that shows a strong relationship with age. Both the nature of carious lesions and their frequency change with successive age groups from childhood to elderly adulthood. There is also a progression in th…
Mummies and dental health in the ancient Ilo valley, southern Peru
Famine, the Black Death, and health in fourteenth-century London
Teeth
Archaeological discoveries of teeth provide remarkable information on humans, animals and the health, hygiene and diet of ancient communities. In this fully revised and updated 2005 edition of his seminal text, Simon Hillson draws together a mass of material from archaeology, anthropology and related disciplines to provide a comprehensive manual on the study of teeth. The range of mammals examined has been extended to include descriptions and lin…
Linear enamel hypoplasias as indicators of systemic physiological stress
Enamel hypoplasias are useful indicators of systemic growth disturbances during childhood, and are routinely used to investigate patterns of morbidity and mortality in past populations. This study examined the pattern of linear enamel hypoplasias in two different burial populations from 18th and 19th Century church crypts in London. Linear enamel hypoplasias on the permanent dentitions of individuals from the crypt of Christ Church, Spitalfields,…
Alternative dental measurements
Most archaeological and fossil teeth are heavily worn, and this greatly limits the usefulness of tooth crown diameter measurements, as they are usually defined at the widest points of the crown. There are alternatives, particularly measurements at the cervix of the tooth, where the crown joints the root, and measurements along a diagonal axis in molars, that are much less affected by wear. These would allow a wider range of specimens to be includ…
Tooth use in Aboriginal Australia
The study of dental casts taken from living people avoids the ethical problems of research into human remains, while providing valuable information about diet and life styles. This article describes a study of tooth wear in dental casts of three different groups of Australian Aborigines. The authors describe their methods of recording and report differential patterns of wear in the different groups. Preliminary interpretation relates the wear pat…
Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies (36 works) · Geography (30 works) · Archaeology (29 works) · Medicine (25 works) · Dentistry (22 works) · Biology (18 works) · History (15 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (14 works) · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology (11 works) · Paleontology (10 works)