An improved age estimation method for caribou and reindeer using tooth eruption and wear

Abstract

Dental age estimation based on tooth eruption schedules and wear is a useful analytical tool in zooarchaeology for developing demographic profiles for animal skeletal remains, particularly those from ruminants. While tooth eruption schedules are applicable only to younger individuals, tooth wear can be used for older animals as the heights of their crowns shorten over their lifetime, creating recognizable visual changes to tooth occlusal surfaces. This study presents a novel tooth eruption and wear age estimation method for Rangifer tarandus, a key species of the Circumpolar North. The method was created using a sample of over 600 mandibles from known-age caribou and reindeer from several populations. These are Qamanirjuaq, Beverly, Dolphin-Union, Bluenose East, and Bluenose West caribou herds from Canada and forest reindeer from Finland. The method provides a user-friendly manual featuring tooth wear illustrations of premolars and molars created using frequency of occurrence data of easily recognizable visual wear traits. This method can be applied to modern and archaeological Rangifer dentition to estimate age and can be utilized with complete or fragmentary mandibles, including isolated teeth.