|
|
| |
|
|
| |
Full text of article
'Saunders SR, Hoppa RD, Macchiarelli R, Bondioli L, 2000: Investigating Variability in Human Dental Development in the Past. Anthropologie (Brno) 38, 1: 101-107'. |
| |
| Abstract | | An initial comparison of long bone size between a nineteenth century Canadian skeletal sample and an Imperial Roman sample used the dental formation standards of Moorrees, Fanning, and Hunt (1963a,b) to estimate chronological age. The two samples appear similar until 8 years when the Roman sample falls below the Canadian one. This method of comparison assumes that the patterns of dental formation are the same in the two samples. But there is a body of research which shows either genetic or environmental effects on dental development. The two samples were compared using tooth pairs at various stages of formation, independent of any other population standards. No significant differences were found. However, sampling problems may mimic patterned differences in dental development and be affected by biases in archaeological mortality samples. The absence of differences in patterns of dental formation between these two samples suggests that there are no micro-level genetic differences between them or environmental differences that might affect dental formation, despite the considerable evidence for skeletal stress in the Roman sample. Shorter stature in the Roman sample, manifested in later childhood, reflects expectations for population differences in skeletal size. | | | | Keywords | | Tooth formation - Dental development - Population variability - Skeletal growth | | |
|
|
|
Full text (PDF)
Export citation
Related articles