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Dental Stigmata and Skeletal Lesions of Congenital Treponematosis in Early Agricultural Vietnam (4000–3500 bp )

Bibliographic Data

ID12371193
AuthorsM Vlok (0000-0002-5259-3819, Charles Sturt University, corresponding author), Tran Thi Minh (0000-0003-0784-4217, Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences), Minh Tran (0009-0007-7711-9586, Institute of Archaeology Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences Hanoi Vietnam), Thi Minh Tran (0009-0000-5816-5455, Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences), Nicola Czaplinski (The University of Notre Dame Australia), Hallie Buckley (University of Otago), Kate Domett (0000-0001-5091-3105, James Cook University), Hiep Hoang Trinh (0000-0003-0209-7259, Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences), Nguyen Thi Mai Huong (0000-0002-5577-7832, Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences), Nghia Thi Huu (Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences), Do Thi Kim Dung (Anova Corp (Vietnam)), Nguyễn Thị Sáu (Anova Corp (Vietnam)), Nguyen Phuong Thao (0000-0002-8793-2593, Anova Corp (Vietnam)), Đỗ Thị Lan (Anova Corp (Vietnam)), Phan Thi Kim An (Anova Corp (Vietnam)), Luong Hong Phuoc (Anova Corp (Vietnam)), H Matsumura (0000-0001-5453-7987, Department of Anatomy Sapporo Medical University Sapporo Japan), Marc F Oxenham (0000-0002-5804-2145, Australian National University), Marc Oxenham (Australian National University)
Year2026
Volume36
Issue2
Pages401-413
Publication date2026-03-13
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of Osteoarchaeology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1047-482X • E-ISSN: 1099-1212
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/oa.70096
OpenAlexW7135425472
LanguageEN
References cited63

Prior research has documented treponematosis at a single site in Mainland Southeast Asia from northern Vietnam dated to the early agricultural transition (~4000–3500 bp ). To date, no other cases in Southeast Asia's prehistory have been identified. Here, we present evidence for congenital treponematosis in three non‐adults from two different sites in north and south Neolithic Vietnam (4000–3200 bp ) who present with dental and/or skeletal evidence consistent with congenital treponematosis, including Moon's molars of the deciduous and permanent dentition, gummatous lesions, saddle nose, and goundou. Following an extensive review of clinical and paleopathological literature, we provide here a new threshold approach for dental stigmata related to congenital transmission of treponematosis. No other cases of treponematosis (congenital or acquired) were found in Vietnam following an extensive analysis of archaeological assemblages dated from 10,000 to 1000 bp ( n = 309), suggesting treponemal disease was not a widespread condition on the east coast of Mainland Southeast Asia in prehistory. These findings also indicate a deep plasticity of Treponema pallidum , as the broader epidemiology still indicates a non‐venereal form of the disease in Vietnam's prehistory, even with the evidence of congenital transmission

Congenital syphilis · Mainland · Mongoloid · Paleopathology · Prehistory · Southeast asia · Treponematosis · dental development and anomalies · Epidemiology · Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies · Paleopathology and ancient diseases

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