Abstract
AbstractThe main aim of this study is to present a novel method of nonadult (ca. 1–19 years) age‐at‐death estimation using the dental wear of deciduous, mixed deciduous‐permanent, and permanent dentitions, including the incisors, canines, premolars, and first and second molars. The stage‐based method is derived from degrees of dental wear in known‐age (n = 39) and estimated‐age (n = 11) nonadults containing 951 teeth from the predominately 19th century cemetery of Middenbeemster, The Netherlands. The need for such a method is warranted in cases where dental development and/or eruption cannot be assessed for age‐at‐death estimation. As well, by establishing a baseline for normal age‐related nonadult tooth wear, users may better document wear that could be due to extramasticatory behaviours. The regression analysis reveals a strong quadratic correlation—F(2, 47) = 555.1, p < .001, R2 = .95, standard error of the estimate = 1.14, residual sum of squares (RSS) = 68.89, predicted residual error sum of squares (PRESS) = 77.67—between age and wear and multivariate adaptive regression splines (R2 = .95, generalised cross validation = 1.67, RSS = 67.68, PRESS = 89.34), which are used to develop an R‐package that users may employ to estimate age‐at‐death from dental wear. The accuracy of this method (78–98%) is evaluated using leave‐one‐out cross‐validation. Analyses of males versus females, deciduous versus permanent, upper versus lower, and anterior versus posterior teeth revealed no apparent reason to warrant separate methods for these groups of separated dentitions. This method fills a disciplinary gap in the understudied area of deciduous and nonadult dental wear and hopes to stimulate much future research. With the R‐package, we also provide the foundation and framework for the development of additional reference populations across different spatiotemporal contexts, to make the method more widely applicable.
Highlights
Dental wear is a general term encompassing three types of dental degradation: abrasion, which is the contact between teeth and exogenous substances; attrition, tooth‐on‐tooth contact; and erosion, caused by chemical deterioration (Burnett, 2016; Larsen, 2015)
Many factors have the potential to influence the rate of dental wear in nonadults; wear seems to occur in a predictable pattern, with age consistently proving to be the dominant factor affecting the rate of wear
We presented strong evidence for the potential of quadratic regression to reliably predict the ages at death of individuals from 1 to 19 years old
Summary
Dental wear is a general term encompassing three types of dental degradation: abrasion, which is the contact between teeth and exogenous substances (e.g., food); attrition, tooth‐on‐tooth contact; and erosion (or corrosion), caused by chemical deterioration (Burnett, 2016; Larsen, 2015). We present an age‐at‐death estimation method for nonadults incorporating both the deciduous and permanent dentition This is done by documenting the average wear for all available teeth from known‐age and estimated‐age individuals and fitting the age and wear data in a regression analysis. Archival data were available for the majority of individuals in the sample (n = 39); due to limited archival data for older nonadults, 11 individuals aged 11–18 years old were added, whose ages were estimated using disciplinary standards, including dental development (Demirjian et al, 1973; Harris & Buck, 2002; Moorrees et al, 1963), dental eruption (Buikstra & Ubelaker, 1994), and skeletal development (Black & Scheuer, 1996; Buikstra & Ubelaker, 1994; Maresh, 1955).
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
