Incisor microwear, diet, and tooth use in three Amerindian populations

Bibliographic Data

ID8316614
AuthorsPeter S Ungar (0000-0002-5936-471X, University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, corresponding author), Mark A Spencer (0000-0002-6209-3113, University of Colorado Denver)
Year1999
Volume109
Issue3
Pages387-396
Publication date1999-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Journal of Physical Anthropology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-9483 • E-ISSN: 1096-8644
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/(sici)1096-8644(199907)109:3<387::aid-ajpa7>3.0.co;2-f
PMID10407466
OpenAlexW2001601109
LanguageEN
Citations received44
References cited27

Incisor microwear patterns have been shown to reflect aspects of diet and ingestive behaviors in a wide range of nonhuman primates. While some studies have suggested that anterior dental microwear might be used to infer unusual front tooth use practices in archaeological populations, quantitative work on modern human incisors has thus far been limited. In this study we examined dental microwear on the maxillary central incisors of three groups of humans: Aleutian Islanders (n = 16), Arikara from the Mobridge Site in South Dakota (n = 15), and a Late Woodland Bluff sample from Jersey County, Illinois (n = 17). High-resolution replicas were prepared and examined by scanning electron microscopy following conventional procedures. Photomicrographs were taken at consistent locations on the labial surface, and microwear was quantified using Microware 3.0 (Ungar, 1997). Statistical test results revealed significant differences among the groups in microwear feature densities, sizes, and shapes. The Aleut, Arikara, and Illinois Bluff samples showed a gradient of increasing microwear density, increasing linearity in feature shape, and decreasing feature size. These differences evidently correspond to amount of meat consumption, and apparently to degree of use of the incisors in heavy loading. No differences were observed between groups in heterogeneity of feature orientations, and no sex-related differences were found. Associations between incisor microwear on the one hand and subsistence practice and anterior tooth use on the other likely have important implications for the study of hominid paleobiology.

Archaeology · Biology · Geography · Incisor · Maxillary central incisor · Subsistence agriculture · Ecology · Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies · Medicine · Orthodontics · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology · Primate Behavior and Ecology

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