Dental Morphology of Naia, a Late Pleistocene Human from Mexico and the Sinodont/Sundadont Issue

Abstract

ABSTRACT The dental morphology of the earliest Americans is poorly known, partly because existing data are largely unpublished and partly because dental wear is typically extreme in the few complete dentitions available. The remains of Naia, a 13,000–12,000 year-old young woman from Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, possess a complete dental record in perfect condition, offering the unique opportunity to record the dental morphology of an early Paleoindian and a chance to address the long-standing debate about whether these first people exhibited Sundadont or Sinodont dental morphology. As an individual, her dentition would fit comfortably in the Sinodont grouping. However, when she is included in the population of North American skeletal remains that can be confidently placed before ∼9000 years ago, a different pattern emerges. The Paleoindians fall neatly between the two dental patterns, suggesting that the founding North American population exhibits a dental pattern of its own, independent of its east Asian relatives.