{"title":"Dental diseases and dental wear as a proxy for dietary patterns in Hellenistic-early Roman Menainon, Sicily","authors":"Antonio Caruso , Efthymia Nikita","doi":"10.1016/j.ijpp.2023.11.002","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Objective</h3><p>This paper explores dental diseases and wear as a proxy for dietary patterns in Hellenistic-early Roman Menainon.</p></div><div><h3>Materials</h3><p>This study includes 166 individuals (4th-1st c. BCE).</p></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><p>Carious lesions, dental calculus, antemortem tooth loss, and dental wear were recorded to explore male-female and adult-juvenile differences, and to position Menainon in the broader Hellenistic/early Roman world through comparisons with published data from other sites.</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>Males and females showed similar rates of dental diseases. Dental wear, in contrast, was systematically greater in males. Caries rates were high in both adults and juveniles, but adults showed more calculus. The population from Menainon had higher frequencies for calculus and carious lesions compared to contemporary Italian and Greek assemblages, and a similar frequency for antemortem tooth loss.</p></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><p>Some sex-related differences in the dietary patterns of the Menainon population were visible but small. The diet of adults and juveniles must have been similar in terms of carbohydrate consumption but different with regard to protein consumption. The high frequency of carious lesions and calculus compared to other Greco-Roman sites suggests that this population must have had good access to dietary resources (protein and carbohydrates).</p></div><div><h3>Significance</h3><p>This paper provides insights on gender (sex-related) and age divisions in the Hellenistic/early Roman society through the exploration of food consumption in a Sicilian assemblage.</p></div><div><h3>Limitations</h3><p>Dividing the assemblage by sex and age group reduced considerably the sample size.</p></div><div><h3>Suggestions for further research</h3><p>Stable isotopes and dental microwear analyses should be used to investigate dietary patterns further.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48817,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Paleopathology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3000,"publicationDate":"2023-11-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1879981723000700/pdfft?md5=03eff5b3d1559c97dc41df9f72f6b5ce&pid=1-s2.0-S1879981723000700-main.pdf","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"International Journal of Paleopathology","FirstCategoryId":"89","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1879981723000700","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"PALEONTOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Objective
This paper explores dental diseases and wear as a proxy for dietary patterns in Hellenistic-early Roman Menainon.
Materials
This study includes 166 individuals (4th-1st c. BCE).
Methods
Carious lesions, dental calculus, antemortem tooth loss, and dental wear were recorded to explore male-female and adult-juvenile differences, and to position Menainon in the broader Hellenistic/early Roman world through comparisons with published data from other sites.
Results
Males and females showed similar rates of dental diseases. Dental wear, in contrast, was systematically greater in males. Caries rates were high in both adults and juveniles, but adults showed more calculus. The population from Menainon had higher frequencies for calculus and carious lesions compared to contemporary Italian and Greek assemblages, and a similar frequency for antemortem tooth loss.
Conclusion
Some sex-related differences in the dietary patterns of the Menainon population were visible but small. The diet of adults and juveniles must have been similar in terms of carbohydrate consumption but different with regard to protein consumption. The high frequency of carious lesions and calculus compared to other Greco-Roman sites suggests that this population must have had good access to dietary resources (protein and carbohydrates).
Significance
This paper provides insights on gender (sex-related) and age divisions in the Hellenistic/early Roman society through the exploration of food consumption in a Sicilian assemblage.
Limitations
Dividing the assemblage by sex and age group reduced considerably the sample size.
Suggestions for further research
Stable isotopes and dental microwear analyses should be used to investigate dietary patterns further.
期刊介绍：
Paleopathology is the study and application of methods and techniques for investigating diseases and related conditions from skeletal and soft tissue remains. The International Journal of Paleopathology (IJPP) will publish original and significant articles on human and animal (including hominids) disease, based upon the study of physical remains, including osseous, dental, and preserved soft tissues at a range of methodological levels, from direct observation to molecular, chemical, histological and radiographic analysis. Discussion of ways in which these methods can be applied to the reconstruction of health, disease and life histories in the past is central to the discipline, so the journal would also encourage papers covering interpretive and theoretical issues, and those that place the study of disease at the centre of a bioarchaeological or biocultural approach. Papers dealing with historical evidence relating to disease in the past (rather than history of medicine) will also be published. The journal will also accept significant studies that applied previously developed techniques to new materials, setting the research in the context of current debates on past human and animal health.
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