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Neanderthals, trees and dental calculus: new evidence from El Sidrón

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2016

Anita Radini
Affiliation:
BioArCh, University of York, Biology S Block, Wentworth Way, York YO10 5DD, UK
Stephen Buckley
Affiliation:
BioArCh, University of York, Biology S Block, Wentworth Way, York YO10 5DD, UK
Antonio Rosas
Affiliation:
Group of Paleoanthropology MNCN-CSIC, Department of Paleobiology, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales-CSIC, Calle José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, 28006 Madrid, Spain
Almudena Estalrrich
Affiliation:
Group of Paleoanthropology MNCN-CSIC, Department of Paleobiology, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales-CSIC, Calle José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, 28006 Madrid, Spain
Marco de la Rasilla
Affiliation:
Área de Prehistoria, Department of History, Universidad de Oviedo, Calle Teniente Alfonso Martínez s/n, 33011 Oviedo, Spain
Karen Hardy
Affiliation:
ICREA (Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies), Departament de Prehistòria, Facultat de Filosofia i Lletres, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain (Email: khardy@icrea.cat)
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Abstract

Analysis of dental calculus is increasingly important in archaeology, although the focus has hitherto been on dietary reconstruction. Non-edible material has, however, recently been extracted from the dental calculus of a Neanderthal population from the 49 000-year-old site of El Sidrón, Spain, in the form of fibre and chemical compounds that indicate conifer wood. Associated dental wear confirms that the teeth were being used for non-dietary activities. These results highlight the importance of dental calculus as a source of wider biographical information, and demonstrate the need to include associated data within research, in particular tooth wear, to maximise this valuable resource.

Information

Type
Research
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2016 
Figure 0

Figure 1. Physical evidence: fragment of wood tissue, consisting of lines of tracheids with lines of bordered pits (A.1 and A.2); the ‘cross’ feature is visible under cross polarised light (B), and small flecks of calculus are still attached (C); scale bar = 100μm.

Figure 1

Figure 2. Interproximal groove on the distal side from LLM1 SD-1327i belonging to an El Sidrón individual, adult 5; although the groove is not well developed, numerous fine and parallel micro scratches are observable on the surface.

Figure 2

Figure 3. Photographic image of the interproximal side with the incipient groove (polished area on the enamel-dentine junction) of SD-1327h (LLM1) from El Sidrón adult 5; scale bar = 1cm.