Role of Human Tooth Wear Analysis in Archaeology: A Review

The path of human evolution has always been a topic of contentious discussion for researchers worldwide. Many theories were proposed to explain the phenomenon based on meagre physical evidences available. Interpretations about subsistence strategies of hominins and their descendents had to be derived from scanty biological remains which mostly consisted of random presence of teeth and fragments of cranial and post-cranial skeleton. Due to better preservation and good resistance to diagenesis, owing to tough enamel covering, teeth have been exploited the most in archaeological studies. Tooth wear analysis is a powerful tool to understand the diet and life processes of ancient people. This paper reviews technical and interpretative development in the use of tooth wear analysis as powerful means to assess changes in masticatory and non-masticatory use of teeth in the process of human evolution. Apart from determination of type and form of diet consumed, tooth wear analysis has been used to estimate masticatory load and its relation to cranio-facial development, age of weaning, use of teeth as a ‘third hand’. Though this method is widely adopted by researchers all over the globe, in the Indian archaeological context, such studies are few and far between. The potential of tooth wear analysis in Indian archaeological arena needs to be tapped for better understanding of ancient humans.