Dental Evidence for Dietary Practices in the Chalcolithic Period : The Findings from a Burial Cave in Peqi'in (Northern Israel)

Abstract

Archaeological data mark the southern Levantine Chalcolithic as a period of great change at the economic and socio-political levels. At the economic level these include intensive cereal cultivation, the cultivation of fruit trees and the utilization of secondary animal products. At the socio-political level the changes include a higher level of socio-political complexity. The analysis of the human dentition has long been used by anthropologists as a tool for reconstructing life ways of past populations. When analyzed by age and social group, pathological, and other conditions of the dentition, provide valuable clues to dietary practices, cultural habits and subsistence strategies. This study examines the dentition from 1 00 mandibles found at the Chalcolithic burial cave in Peqi 'in (northern Israel), in order to shed light on some dietary practices and the general health of this population in relation to the economic and socio-political changes that occurred during this time. The results showed a high frequency ofhypoplasia (over 95 % in canines) pointing to the prevalence of physiological stress during infancy and childhood. Molar wear rate was rapid and oblique in pattern indicating an abrasive diet. The caries frequency for the M2 andM3 was 19.3 %, and with ante mortem tooth loss and abscessing points to a heavy reliance on cereals. The high frequency of hypoplasia in combination with other dental pathologies may be associated with a diet low in nutritional value and/or disease. The pattern of disease appeared to be similar in all individuals within the same age group, indicating that the population of Peqi 'in shared a similar life experience in that no one group or individual was more socially buffered from disease or enjoyed differential access to nutritional resources.