A dental non-metric analysis of the Classical/Late Antiquity period (1st century BC–3rd century AD) population from Armenian Plateau

Abstract

The aim of the study is to assess of the biological distance between the populations from the Armenian Plateau and Georgia, with samples from Eastern Europe, and Central Asia on the basis of the frequency of dental non-metric traits. It is well known that these traits are characterised by high inter-population differentiation, low sexual dimorphism, and their recording is loaded by relatively small intra and inter observer error. The dental non-metric traits are successfully used in the description and explanation of the ethnogenetic processes. The comparative analysis was carried out on the basis of 19 populations. The frequency of the dental non-metric traits among all the populations was analysed using the multiple correspondence analysis and the cluster analysis. Analysis results do not allow to concretize the sources of components of the odontological structure of the Classical/Late Antiquity period populations of the Armenian Highland reducing them to the direct influence of representatives of any cultures or communities. Future dental morphology investigation in Armenia should focus on characterizing, with the aid of an identified skeletal collection, the frequencies of traits on an Armenia large sample. This would be only a gateway to a wider (geographically and, more important, chronologically) dental morphology characterization of Armenian peoples.