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Behavioural implications of temporal change in cariogenesis
Journal of Archaeological
Science 1983, 10, l-8
Behavioural Implications in Cariogenesis
of Temporal Change
Clark SpencerLarsena The understanding of processin the archaeological record can only be achieved through the use of a wide range of information. This paper utilizes data from biological anthropology by looking at change in frequency of dental caries with the shift to an agricultural based economy on the prehistoric Georgia coast after c. AD 1150. There is an increase in frequency
of carious
lesions which is more marked
in the
females, thus indicating a relatively greater impact of the dietary shift on them than on the males. Most likely, this disparity is due to subsistence role differences between the sexes: males maintained hunting responsibilities, while females were responsible for agricultural related activity, including food preparation. Keywords: DENTAL CARIES, AGRICULTURAL, GEORGIA
HUNTING AND GATHERING, COAST, SEXUAL DIMORPHISM.
MAIZE
Introduction Archaeologists have become increasingly cognizant of the work of biological anthropologists in a number of areas of prehistoric research, especially as it deals with the study of human behaviour and social organization. In this regard, for example, status differentiation in New World prehistoric societies has been revealed through the study of stature (Buikstra, 1972; Haviland, 1967; Hatch & Willey, 1974; Saul, 1972), trace element composition of bone, especially strontium (Schoeninger, 1979a, b), degenerative joint disease (Tainter, 1980), and age structure (Wilkinson & Norelli, 1981). Clearly, these and related studies have shown that rank and status can be used successfully to reveal organizational parameters in past societies. Still another dimension of social organization that can be studied through research tools offered by the biological anthropologist is that having to do with sex-linked behaviour in prehistoric populations. Specifically, the purpose of the present report is to provide evidence for female/male difference in diet as it is revealed through the frequency of dental caries in a sample of human dental remains from the prehistoric Georgia coast. The Georgia coast was chosen as a study area for several reasons. First, it has been the focus of a great deal of well-documented archaeological research (cf. Thomas 8c Larsen, 1979; Larsen, 1982). The temporal-cultural sequence has been studied and it appears that the Georgia coast represents in situ development. That is, there are no “Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Southeastern Massachusetts University, North Dartmouth, U.S.A. and Department of Anthropology, The American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, N.Y., U.S.A. 1 0305-4403/83/010001+08
$03.00/O
@ 1983 Academic Press Inc. (London) Limited
2
C. S. LARSEN
apparent discontinuities in the cultural record. This suggests that there was a corresponding genetic continuity in human population that occupied the prehistoric Georgia coast prior to European contact. Second, changes in the subsistence economy for the Georgia coast have been documented. It appears that prior to AD 1150, the dietary regime was based, for the most part on hunting, gathering, and fishing. Diet was focused on local estuarine resources. After AD 1150, however, the use of maize agriculture became an integral and intensive component of the overall subsistence economy. Several forms of evidence support this dietary reconstruction: (1) the presence of maize in habitation and non-habitation contexts only after AD 1150; (2) marked increase in size, number, and density of human habitation localities after AD 1150; and (3) the established importance of maize as a food item as documented in the ethnohistoric record. Methods and Analysis
Dental caries is a disease process that is characterized by the focal demineralization of dental hard tissues by acids which result from bacteria1 fermentation of dietary carbo, hydrates, especially sugars. The causative factors are multiple and complex. Brieflythese factors are divided into two main groups, essential and modifying (Rowe, 1975). The essential factors include: teeth with exposed susceptible surfaces to the oral environment, dental plaque, and oral ingestion of food, particularly carbohydrates. Modifying factors include, in part, some systemic diseases, race, sex, heredity, salivary flow and chemistry, tooth substance and structure, nutrition, and the presence or absence of fluorides (Rowe, 1975). With respect to the Georgia coast, the single most important influence in dental caries is the increased consumption of dietary carbohydrates that is associated with the adoption or at least the marked increase in the use of maize after AD 1150 (Larsen, 1980, 1982). For the present study, the presence/absence of carious lesions were recorded for all adult (as determined from third molar eruption and epiphyseal closure) female and male teeth. Because the dentitions are from populations differing only in mode of subsistence, the samples were divided into two groups: (1) a preugricultural group that is comprised of human remains dating 1000 BC to AD 1150: and (2) an agricultural group that is comprised of human remains dating AD 1150 to AD 1550. The dentitions from 19 preagricultural (n = 124 individuals) and 14 agricultural (n = 188 individuals) period mortuary sites from the Georgia coast were studied. A detailed description of this sample and its archaeological context has been provided elsewhere (cf. Larsen, 1982). Because the observations discussed herein are all representative of nominal data and the sample sizes are generally greater than 30, the nonparametric test statistic utilized for all comparisons is the chi-square test (after Thomas, 1976). The results are considered significant if the probability of the same result occurring by chance is P = 0.05.
Comparisons of the preagricultural and agricultural females and males show a pattern of increase in frequency of carious lesions for each tooth type (incisors, canines, premolars, molars). The females show significant increases for teeth affected by dental caries for the maxillary canine (17.0%) first premolar (21-O %), second premolar (14.4 %), first molar (16.7 %), second molar (18.3 %), third molar (17*4x), and the mandibular first premolar (8.1x), second premolar (13.9 %), first molar (25.8 %), second molar (30*3%), and third molar (25.0%) (Table I). The female dentition, for all tooth types combined (11+12+...M3), shows a 14.4% increase in frequency of teeth affected by dental caries.
TEMPORAL Table
1. Frequency
CHANGE
IN CARIOGENESIS
( %) of female
carious
teeth
Preagricultural N” %
Tooth
3
Agricultural N” %
Change of 0A b
Maxilla
I1 12 C Pl P2 Ml M2 M3
0.0
0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Mandible 11
0.0
I2 C Pl P2 Ml M2 M3
0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 I.3 1.2 1.1
Total
I.2
48 39 52 60 61 73 77 73
(26) (21) (26) (31) (31) (37) (41) (37)
3.7 6.0 17.0 21.0 14.4 16.7 18.3 17.4
33 42 60 65 76 79 86 92
(17) (23) (31) (33) (43) (41) (43) (47)
2.4 5.1 8.1 13.9 26.8 31.5 26.1
1016 (75)
15.6
0.0
82 (42) 66 (35) 100 (53) 95 (50) 111 (58) 138 (73) 126 (68) 109 (58)
i-3.7 + 6.0 + 17.0+ +21.0* + 14.4’ + 16.7, + 18.3* + 17.4*
58 84 97 123 130 127 127 115
+ 2.4 +5.1 +8.1* •i- 13.9* +25.5* +30.3* +25.0*
(33) (43) (52) (65) (67) (65) (66) (60)
1688 (108)
“Number of teeth observed; parentheses indicate minimum individuals observed. Vomputed by the formula: o~agricultural-“,?preagricultural.
0.0
+ 14.4* number
of
‘P = 0.05.
Table
2. Frequency
Tooth
( %) of male carious
Preagricultural N” %
teeth
Agricultural N” %
Change of 0/. b
Maxilla
I1 12 C Pl P2 Ml M2 M3
2.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
37 (19) 31 (16) 35 (18) 39 (20) 38 (20) 46 (23) 47 (25) 40 (20)
0.0 1.7 4.9 27.6 13.4 18.5 13.5 16.1
63( 35) 58 (30) 82 (41) 76 (4) 82 (42) 92 (48) 89 (46) 81 (42)
-2.1 +1.7 +4.9 +27.6* + 13.4* + 18.5* + 13.5 +16.1*
12 C PI P2 Ml M2 M3
0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 2.1 2.1 2.1
l5( 8) 24 (13) 42 (25) 43 (22) 41 (21) 47 (24) 47 (24) 45 (23)
0.0 1.4 0.0 3.2 8.0 22.4 12.9 22.9
58 69 85 93 88 98 85 96
(30) (35) (44 (49) (48) (51) (45) (50)
+ 1.4 0.0 +3.2 + 8.0 +20.3* + 10.8* +20.8*
Total
0.6
617 (49)
11.2
1295 (80)
+ 10.6*
Mandible 11
“Number of teeth observed; parentheses indicate minimum individuals observed. %omputed by the formula: O~agricultural-O~preagricultural. *P = 0.05.
0.0
nunber
of
4
C. S. LARSEN
Table 2 shows the male dental caries frequencies for the preagricultural and agricultural groups. The significant increases in carious teeth are restricted to the maxillary post-canine and the mandibular post-second premolar dentitions. The significant percent increases for teeth affected by dental caries occur for the maxillary first premolar (27.6 %), second premolar (13.4 %), first molar (I 8.5 %), third molar (16-l%), and the mandibular first molar (20.3 %), second molar (10*8x), and third molar (20.8 %). For all tooth categories combined, the male dentition shows a 10.6% increase in frequency of teeth affected by dental caries. To summarize these data, although there is a percent increase in frequency of dental caries for nearly all adult teeth-female and male-there are fewer significant increases in frequency of carious teeth in the males than in the females. Moreover, the frequency increases are much more pronounced in the females, and this sex shows fully 4 y0 greater teeth affected by dental caries than the males for all tooth types combined.
The most likely explanation for the increase in occurrence of dental caries on the prehistoric Georgia coast is related to the nature of the food staple forming the economic basis of the agricultural lifeway: maize. The increasing dependence on this dietary carbohydrate after AD 1150 undoubtedly contributed to growth of odontolytic organisms. More important for the present discussion, however, is the apparent disparity in frequency of agricultural female and male teeth affected by the disease. It is possible that mortality patterns change significantly between the two groups, with the agricultural females living longer, proportionately, than their earlier counterparts. If this is true, then they would have greater time to accumulate dental caries than males. In the comparison of the preagricultural and agricultural skeletal samples from which the dental remains were observed, a clear discrepancy in age structure of the two groups is revealed. The age distributions for the preagricultural and agricultural groups are listed in Tables 3 and 4, respectively. Examination of these age structures shows that the preagricultural group is clearly represented by an older skeletal sample than the agricultural group. The difference in the age distributions is statistically significant at the P = 0.05 level (Kolmogorov-Smirnov, chi-square). With regard to these data by sex, the preagricultural and agricultural female and male age distributions are presented in Tables 5 and 6, respectively. Statistical treatment of the female and male age distributions in both the preagricultural and agricultural groups demonstrates that these distributions are not statistically different at the P = 0.05 level (Kolmogorov-Smirnov, chi-square). Table
3. Preagricultural
age distribution
Age interval
Median w
16.1-20.0 20.1-25.0 251-30.0 30.1-350 351-40.0 40.1-450 45.1+ Unaged
18.0 22.5 21.5 32.5 31.5 42.5 47.5
N’ 22 27 14 6 14 11 19 116
Corrected Nb
%Represented
44.7 54.8 28.4 12.2 28.4 22.3 38.6
16.6 20.4 10.6 4.5 10.6 8.3 14.3
“Number of actual individuals represented per age interval (representing skeletons that could be aged). Torrected number of individuals (see Larsen, 1982 for details regarding computations).
TEMPORAL
CHANGE
Table 4. Agricultural Age interval
IN CARIOGENESIS
5
age distribution Median age
N”
Corrected Nb
‘ARepresented
18.0 22.5 21.5 32.5 37.5 42.5 47.5
33 38 11 8 9 6 5 171
85.8 98.8 28.6 20.8 23.4 15.6 13.0
25.1 28.9 8.4 6.1 6.8 4.6 3.8
16.1-20-O 20.1-250 25.1-30.0 30.1-35.0 35.1-40.0 40~145~0 45.1+ Unaged
“Number of actual individuals represented per age interval (representing skeletons that could be aged). Vorrected number of individuals (see Laesen, 1982 for details regarding computations).
Table 5. Preagricultural
female and male age distributions Female
Age interval
N”
16.1-20.0 20.1-25.0 25.1-30.0 30.1-35.0 35.1-40.0 40.1+ Unaged
14 11 6 3 9 15 38
Male
Corrected N”
%
N”
23.2 18.3 10.0 5.0 14.9 24.9
24.2 19.1 10.4 5.2 15.5 25.9
2 13 3 3 5 12 37
Corrected Nb
%
3.9 25.6 5.9 5.9 9.9 23.6
5.2 34.1 7.9 7.9 13.2 31.5
“Number of actual individuals represented per age interval (representing skeletons that could lx aged). *Corrected number of individuals (see Larsen, 1982 for details regarding computations).
Table 6. Agricultural
female and male age distributions Female
Male
Age interval
N”
Corrected Nb
%
N”
16.1-20.0 20.1-25.0 25.1-30.0 30.1-35.0 35.1-40.0 40.1+ Unaged
19 14 7 6 5 4 79
46.4 34.2 17.1 14.6 12.2 9.8
34.6 25.5 12.8 10.9 9.1 7.3
8 18 4 2 4 7 53
Corrected Nb
%
17.8 40.1 8.9 4.5 8.9 15.6
18.5 41.8 9.3 4.7 9.3 16.3
“Number of actual individuals represented per age interval (representing skeletons that could be- aged). %orrected number of individuals (see Larsen, 1982 for details regarding computations).
6
C. S. LARSEN
In sum, while there is a depression in survivorship in the agricultural group relative to the preagricultural group, the change affected both females and males uniformly. Thus, females apparently did not have relatively greater time of exposure to the process of cariogenesis with the shift to maize agriculture. Alternatively, it is plausible that there may have been differential tooth loss between males and females. Males, on the one hand, could have lost a significant number of carious teeth, either pre- or post-mortem, thus biasing the results represented above. However, through the course of the study of the dental sample utilized herein, there was no indication of differential tooth loss between the sexes or subsistence groups (cf. Larsen, 1982). Thus, it is unlikely that tooth loss is an important contributing factor to the difference in frequency of dental caries between females and males in the agricultural group. The results of this study, then, support a number of accounts in the paleopathology literature for female/male differences in frequency of teeth affected by dental caries: Hooton (1930) for Pecos Pueblo, Hrdlirka (19i6) for the Munsee cemetary, Newman & Snow (1942) for the Pickwick Basin, and, most recently, Behrend (1978) for the lower Illinois River valley, and Hillson (1979) for the Nile River valley (see also other evidence from Lambert et al., 1979). Although it is difficult to point to specific dietary differences, the data from these analyses and the Georgia coast suggest important differences in diet between females and males with the shift to an agricultural subsistence mode. Several recent ethnographic accounts of extant human groups point to female/male subsistence differences. For instance, at Ngarulurutja (Australia), it was demonstrated “that in spite of rules about sharing, the persons who did the most hunting ate the most meat. It is clear that the young men who actually caught the game consumed most of it” (Hayden, 1979, p. 166; see also Lee, 1968; Woodburn, 1968; Meehan, 1977a, b). With respect to the Georgia coast, ethnohistoric accounts of local populations-the Gualeand the southeast in general indicate that there was in fact strict sexual division of most activities, including those associated with subsistence. Females appear to have been primarily responsible for most plant gathering and agricultural activities such as field preparation, planting, harvesting, and food preparation. The males, on the other hand, were responsible for hunting (Swanton, 1942, 1946; Hudson, 1976). These records, then, provide a basis for explaining the disparity in agricultural female/ male frequencies of dental caries on the Georgia coast. That is, if the Georgia coastal agricultural males were differentially receiving more protein-that acquired on the hunt-and less carbohydrates (maize), and the females vice versa, then those individuals ingesting relatively more maize-the females-developed more carious teeth. Conclusions This paper has demonstrated a source of information for the investigation of social organization in the prehistoric past, Specifically, it was indicated that the dietary change associated with the shift from a subsistence mode based on hunting and gathering to agriculture affected the females more than the males. In addition, these data were used to clarify behavioural differences between the sexes after AD 1150. Acknowledgements This research was made possible through the generous support of the Edward John Noble Foundation and The American Museum of Natural History. Specifically, I thank Dr David Hurst Thomas for involving me in the archaeology and biological anthropology of the Georgia coast through the St. Catherines Island Archaeological Project. The
TEMPORAL CHANGE IN CARIOGENESIS
7
collection of data and subsequent analysis were completed during tenure of a Smithsonian Institution Predoctoral Fellowship in the Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History. I appreciate the helpful comments, corrections, and criticisms given by the following individuals: Milford H. Wolpoff, David Hurst Thomas, Douglas H. Ubekaler, Christopher S. Peebles, Nathaniel H. Rowe, David S. Carlson, T. Dale Stewart, J. Lawrence Angel, Donald J. Ortner, Vincas Steponaitis, and two anonymous reviewers. A preliminary version of this paper was presented at the fiftieth annual meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, Detroit. References Behrend, G. A. (1978). The epidemiology of dental caries and subsistence pattern change. American
Journal
of Physical
Anthropology 48, 380. in the Lower Illinois River Valley: A RegionaI Approach to Variability and Mortuary Activity. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation,
Buikstra, J. E. (1972). Hopewell the Study of Biological
Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago. Hatch, J. W. & Willey, P. S. (1974). Stature and status in Dallas society. Tennessee Archaeologist 30, 107-l 3 1. Haviland, W. A. (1967). Stature at Tikal, Guatemala: Implications for ancient Maya demography and social organization. American Antiquity 32, 316-325. Hayden, B. (1979). Paleolithic Reflections: Lithic TechnoIogy and Ethnographic Excavation among Australian Aborigines. Atlantic Highlands: Humanities Press. Hillson, S. W. (1979). Diet and dental disease. World Archaeology 11, 147-162. Hooton, E. A. (1930). The Zndians of Pecos Pueblo. New Haven: Yale University Press. Hrdlieka, A. (1916). Physical anthropology of the Lenape or Delawares, and of the Eastern Indians in general. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 62. Hudson, C. (1976). The Southeastern Indians. Knoxville: University of TennesseePress. Lambert, J. B., Szpunar, C. B. & Buikstra, J. E. (1979). Chemical analysis of excavated human bone from Middle and Late Woodland Sites. Archaeometry 21, 115-129. Larsen, C. S. (1980). Dental caries: Experimental and biocultural evidence. In (P. Willey & F. H. Smith, Eds) The Skeletal Biology of Aboriginal Populations in the Southeastern United States. Tennessee Anthropological
Association,
Miscellaneous
Paper 5, 75-80.
Larsen, C. S. (1982). The anthropology of St. Catherines Island: 3. Prehistoric human biological adaptation. Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History 57, 155270. Lee, R. B. (1968). What hunters do for a living; or, how to make out on scarceresources. In (R. B. Lee & I. DeVore, Eds) Man the Hunter. Chicago: Aldine, pp. 30-48. Meehan, B. (1977a). Hunters by the seashore. Journal of Human Evolution 6, 363-370. Meehan, B. (19776). Man does not live by calories alone: the role of shellfish in a coastal cuisine. In (J. Allen, J. Golson & R. Jones, Eds) Sunda and Sahul: Prehistoric Studies in S.E. Asia, Melanesia and Australia. London : Academic Press, pp. 493-53 1. Newman, M. T. & Snow, C. E. (1942). Preliminary report on the skeletal material from the Pickwick basin, Alabama. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 129, 395-507. Rowe, N. H. (1975). Dental caries. In (P. F. Steele, Ed.) Dimensions of Dental Hygeine. Philadelphia: Lea & Febiger, pp. 198-222. Saul, F. (1972). The human skeletal remains at Altar de Sacrificios: An osteobiographic analysis. Papers of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University
63, No. 2.
Schoeninger, M. S. (1979a). Diet and status at Chalcatzingo: Some empirical and technical aspects of strontium analysis. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 51, 295-310. Schoeninger, M. S. (19796). Dietary reconstruction at Chalcatzingo, a Formative period site in Morelos, Mexico. Museum of Anthropology, The University of Michigan, Technical Reports 9.
Swanton, J. R. (1942). Source material on the history and ethnology of the Caddo Indians. Bureau of American
Ethnology,
Bulletin
132.
8
C. S. LARSEN
Swanton, J. R. (1946). Indians of the Southeastern United States. Bureau of American Ethnology,
Bulletin
137.
Tainter, J. A. (1980). Behavior and status in a Middle Woodland mortuary population from the Illinois Valley. American Antiquity 45, 308-313. Thomas, D. H. (1976). Figuring Anthropology: First Principles of Probability and Statistics. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston. Thomas, D. H. & Larsen, C. S. (1979). The anthropology of St. Catherines Island: 2. The Refuge-Deptford mortuary complex. Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History 56, l-180. Wilkinson, R. G. & Norelli, R. J. (1981). A biocultural analysis of social organization at Monte Alban. American Antiquity 46, 743-758. Woodburn, J. (1968). An introduction to Hadza ecology. In (R. B. Lee & I. DeVore, Eds) Man the Hunter. Chicago: Aldine, pp. 49-55.
Science 1983, 10, l-8
Behavioural Implications in Cariogenesis
of Temporal Change
Clark SpencerLarsena The understanding of processin the archaeological record can only be achieved through the use of a wide range of information. This paper utilizes data from biological anthropology by looking at change in frequency of dental caries with the shift to an agricultural based economy on the prehistoric Georgia coast after c. AD 1150. There is an increase in frequency
of carious
lesions which is more marked
in the
females, thus indicating a relatively greater impact of the dietary shift on them than on the males. Most likely, this disparity is due to subsistence role differences between the sexes: males maintained hunting responsibilities, while females were responsible for agricultural related activity, including food preparation. Keywords: DENTAL CARIES, AGRICULTURAL, GEORGIA
HUNTING AND GATHERING, COAST, SEXUAL DIMORPHISM.
MAIZE
Introduction Archaeologists have become increasingly cognizant of the work of biological anthropologists in a number of areas of prehistoric research, especially as it deals with the study of human behaviour and social organization. In this regard, for example, status differentiation in New World prehistoric societies has been revealed through the study of stature (Buikstra, 1972; Haviland, 1967; Hatch & Willey, 1974; Saul, 1972), trace element composition of bone, especially strontium (Schoeninger, 1979a, b), degenerative joint disease (Tainter, 1980), and age structure (Wilkinson & Norelli, 1981). Clearly, these and related studies have shown that rank and status can be used successfully to reveal organizational parameters in past societies. Still another dimension of social organization that can be studied through research tools offered by the biological anthropologist is that having to do with sex-linked behaviour in prehistoric populations. Specifically, the purpose of the present report is to provide evidence for female/male difference in diet as it is revealed through the frequency of dental caries in a sample of human dental remains from the prehistoric Georgia coast. The Georgia coast was chosen as a study area for several reasons. First, it has been the focus of a great deal of well-documented archaeological research (cf. Thomas 8c Larsen, 1979; Larsen, 1982). The temporal-cultural sequence has been studied and it appears that the Georgia coast represents in situ development. That is, there are no “Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Southeastern Massachusetts University, North Dartmouth, U.S.A. and Department of Anthropology, The American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, N.Y., U.S.A. 1 0305-4403/83/010001+08
$03.00/O
@ 1983 Academic Press Inc. (London) Limited
2
C. S. LARSEN
apparent discontinuities in the cultural record. This suggests that there was a corresponding genetic continuity in human population that occupied the prehistoric Georgia coast prior to European contact. Second, changes in the subsistence economy for the Georgia coast have been documented. It appears that prior to AD 1150, the dietary regime was based, for the most part on hunting, gathering, and fishing. Diet was focused on local estuarine resources. After AD 1150, however, the use of maize agriculture became an integral and intensive component of the overall subsistence economy. Several forms of evidence support this dietary reconstruction: (1) the presence of maize in habitation and non-habitation contexts only after AD 1150; (2) marked increase in size, number, and density of human habitation localities after AD 1150; and (3) the established importance of maize as a food item as documented in the ethnohistoric record. Methods and Analysis
Dental caries is a disease process that is characterized by the focal demineralization of dental hard tissues by acids which result from bacteria1 fermentation of dietary carbo, hydrates, especially sugars. The causative factors are multiple and complex. Brieflythese factors are divided into two main groups, essential and modifying (Rowe, 1975). The essential factors include: teeth with exposed susceptible surfaces to the oral environment, dental plaque, and oral ingestion of food, particularly carbohydrates. Modifying factors include, in part, some systemic diseases, race, sex, heredity, salivary flow and chemistry, tooth substance and structure, nutrition, and the presence or absence of fluorides (Rowe, 1975). With respect to the Georgia coast, the single most important influence in dental caries is the increased consumption of dietary carbohydrates that is associated with the adoption or at least the marked increase in the use of maize after AD 1150 (Larsen, 1980, 1982). For the present study, the presence/absence of carious lesions were recorded for all adult (as determined from third molar eruption and epiphyseal closure) female and male teeth. Because the dentitions are from populations differing only in mode of subsistence, the samples were divided into two groups: (1) a preugricultural group that is comprised of human remains dating 1000 BC to AD 1150: and (2) an agricultural group that is comprised of human remains dating AD 1150 to AD 1550. The dentitions from 19 preagricultural (n = 124 individuals) and 14 agricultural (n = 188 individuals) period mortuary sites from the Georgia coast were studied. A detailed description of this sample and its archaeological context has been provided elsewhere (cf. Larsen, 1982). Because the observations discussed herein are all representative of nominal data and the sample sizes are generally greater than 30, the nonparametric test statistic utilized for all comparisons is the chi-square test (after Thomas, 1976). The results are considered significant if the probability of the same result occurring by chance is P = 0.05.
Comparisons of the preagricultural and agricultural females and males show a pattern of increase in frequency of carious lesions for each tooth type (incisors, canines, premolars, molars). The females show significant increases for teeth affected by dental caries for the maxillary canine (17.0%) first premolar (21-O %), second premolar (14.4 %), first molar (16.7 %), second molar (18.3 %), third molar (17*4x), and the mandibular first premolar (8.1x), second premolar (13.9 %), first molar (25.8 %), second molar (30*3%), and third molar (25.0%) (Table I). The female dentition, for all tooth types combined (11+12+...M3), shows a 14.4% increase in frequency of teeth affected by dental caries.
TEMPORAL Table
1. Frequency
CHANGE
IN CARIOGENESIS
( %) of female
carious
teeth
Preagricultural N” %
Tooth
3
Agricultural N” %
Change of 0A b
Maxilla
I1 12 C Pl P2 Ml M2 M3
0.0
0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Mandible 11
0.0
I2 C Pl P2 Ml M2 M3
0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 I.3 1.2 1.1
Total
I.2
48 39 52 60 61 73 77 73
(26) (21) (26) (31) (31) (37) (41) (37)
3.7 6.0 17.0 21.0 14.4 16.7 18.3 17.4
33 42 60 65 76 79 86 92
(17) (23) (31) (33) (43) (41) (43) (47)
2.4 5.1 8.1 13.9 26.8 31.5 26.1
1016 (75)
15.6
0.0
82 (42) 66 (35) 100 (53) 95 (50) 111 (58) 138 (73) 126 (68) 109 (58)
i-3.7 + 6.0 + 17.0+ +21.0* + 14.4’ + 16.7, + 18.3* + 17.4*
58 84 97 123 130 127 127 115
+ 2.4 +5.1 +8.1* •i- 13.9* +25.5* +30.3* +25.0*
(33) (43) (52) (65) (67) (65) (66) (60)
1688 (108)
“Number of teeth observed; parentheses indicate minimum individuals observed. Vomputed by the formula: o~agricultural-“,?preagricultural.
0.0
+ 14.4* number
of
‘P = 0.05.
Table
2. Frequency
Tooth
( %) of male carious
Preagricultural N” %
teeth
Agricultural N” %
Change of 0/. b
Maxilla
I1 12 C Pl P2 Ml M2 M3
2.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
37 (19) 31 (16) 35 (18) 39 (20) 38 (20) 46 (23) 47 (25) 40 (20)
0.0 1.7 4.9 27.6 13.4 18.5 13.5 16.1
63( 35) 58 (30) 82 (41) 76 (4) 82 (42) 92 (48) 89 (46) 81 (42)
-2.1 +1.7 +4.9 +27.6* + 13.4* + 18.5* + 13.5 +16.1*
12 C PI P2 Ml M2 M3
0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 2.1 2.1 2.1
l5( 8) 24 (13) 42 (25) 43 (22) 41 (21) 47 (24) 47 (24) 45 (23)
0.0 1.4 0.0 3.2 8.0 22.4 12.9 22.9
58 69 85 93 88 98 85 96
(30) (35) (44 (49) (48) (51) (45) (50)
+ 1.4 0.0 +3.2 + 8.0 +20.3* + 10.8* +20.8*
Total
0.6
617 (49)
11.2
1295 (80)
+ 10.6*
Mandible 11
“Number of teeth observed; parentheses indicate minimum individuals observed. %omputed by the formula: O~agricultural-O~preagricultural. *P = 0.05.
0.0
nunber
of
4
C. S. LARSEN
Table 2 shows the male dental caries frequencies for the preagricultural and agricultural groups. The significant increases in carious teeth are restricted to the maxillary post-canine and the mandibular post-second premolar dentitions. The significant percent increases for teeth affected by dental caries occur for the maxillary first premolar (27.6 %), second premolar (13.4 %), first molar (I 8.5 %), third molar (16-l%), and the mandibular first molar (20.3 %), second molar (10*8x), and third molar (20.8 %). For all tooth categories combined, the male dentition shows a 10.6% increase in frequency of teeth affected by dental caries. To summarize these data, although there is a percent increase in frequency of dental caries for nearly all adult teeth-female and male-there are fewer significant increases in frequency of carious teeth in the males than in the females. Moreover, the frequency increases are much more pronounced in the females, and this sex shows fully 4 y0 greater teeth affected by dental caries than the males for all tooth types combined.
The most likely explanation for the increase in occurrence of dental caries on the prehistoric Georgia coast is related to the nature of the food staple forming the economic basis of the agricultural lifeway: maize. The increasing dependence on this dietary carbohydrate after AD 1150 undoubtedly contributed to growth of odontolytic organisms. More important for the present discussion, however, is the apparent disparity in frequency of agricultural female and male teeth affected by the disease. It is possible that mortality patterns change significantly between the two groups, with the agricultural females living longer, proportionately, than their earlier counterparts. If this is true, then they would have greater time to accumulate dental caries than males. In the comparison of the preagricultural and agricultural skeletal samples from which the dental remains were observed, a clear discrepancy in age structure of the two groups is revealed. The age distributions for the preagricultural and agricultural groups are listed in Tables 3 and 4, respectively. Examination of these age structures shows that the preagricultural group is clearly represented by an older skeletal sample than the agricultural group. The difference in the age distributions is statistically significant at the P = 0.05 level (Kolmogorov-Smirnov, chi-square). With regard to these data by sex, the preagricultural and agricultural female and male age distributions are presented in Tables 5 and 6, respectively. Statistical treatment of the female and male age distributions in both the preagricultural and agricultural groups demonstrates that these distributions are not statistically different at the P = 0.05 level (Kolmogorov-Smirnov, chi-square). Table
3. Preagricultural
age distribution
Age interval
Median w
16.1-20.0 20.1-25.0 251-30.0 30.1-350 351-40.0 40.1-450 45.1+ Unaged
18.0 22.5 21.5 32.5 31.5 42.5 47.5
N’ 22 27 14 6 14 11 19 116
Corrected Nb
%Represented
44.7 54.8 28.4 12.2 28.4 22.3 38.6
16.6 20.4 10.6 4.5 10.6 8.3 14.3
“Number of actual individuals represented per age interval (representing skeletons that could be aged). Torrected number of individuals (see Larsen, 1982 for details regarding computations).
TEMPORAL
CHANGE
Table 4. Agricultural Age interval
IN CARIOGENESIS
5
age distribution Median age
N”
Corrected Nb
‘ARepresented
18.0 22.5 21.5 32.5 37.5 42.5 47.5
33 38 11 8 9 6 5 171
85.8 98.8 28.6 20.8 23.4 15.6 13.0
25.1 28.9 8.4 6.1 6.8 4.6 3.8
16.1-20-O 20.1-250 25.1-30.0 30.1-35.0 35.1-40.0 40~145~0 45.1+ Unaged
“Number of actual individuals represented per age interval (representing skeletons that could be aged). Vorrected number of individuals (see Laesen, 1982 for details regarding computations).
Table 5. Preagricultural
female and male age distributions Female
Age interval
N”
16.1-20.0 20.1-25.0 25.1-30.0 30.1-35.0 35.1-40.0 40.1+ Unaged
14 11 6 3 9 15 38
Male
Corrected N”
%
N”
23.2 18.3 10.0 5.0 14.9 24.9
24.2 19.1 10.4 5.2 15.5 25.9
2 13 3 3 5 12 37
Corrected Nb
%
3.9 25.6 5.9 5.9 9.9 23.6
5.2 34.1 7.9 7.9 13.2 31.5
“Number of actual individuals represented per age interval (representing skeletons that could lx aged). *Corrected number of individuals (see Larsen, 1982 for details regarding computations).
Table 6. Agricultural
female and male age distributions Female
Male
Age interval
N”
Corrected Nb
%
N”
16.1-20.0 20.1-25.0 25.1-30.0 30.1-35.0 35.1-40.0 40.1+ Unaged
19 14 7 6 5 4 79
46.4 34.2 17.1 14.6 12.2 9.8
34.6 25.5 12.8 10.9 9.1 7.3
8 18 4 2 4 7 53
Corrected Nb
%
17.8 40.1 8.9 4.5 8.9 15.6
18.5 41.8 9.3 4.7 9.3 16.3
“Number of actual individuals represented per age interval (representing skeletons that could be- aged). %orrected number of individuals (see Larsen, 1982 for details regarding computations).
6
C. S. LARSEN
In sum, while there is a depression in survivorship in the agricultural group relative to the preagricultural group, the change affected both females and males uniformly. Thus, females apparently did not have relatively greater time of exposure to the process of cariogenesis with the shift to maize agriculture. Alternatively, it is plausible that there may have been differential tooth loss between males and females. Males, on the one hand, could have lost a significant number of carious teeth, either pre- or post-mortem, thus biasing the results represented above. However, through the course of the study of the dental sample utilized herein, there was no indication of differential tooth loss between the sexes or subsistence groups (cf. Larsen, 1982). Thus, it is unlikely that tooth loss is an important contributing factor to the difference in frequency of dental caries between females and males in the agricultural group. The results of this study, then, support a number of accounts in the paleopathology literature for female/male differences in frequency of teeth affected by dental caries: Hooton (1930) for Pecos Pueblo, Hrdlirka (19i6) for the Munsee cemetary, Newman & Snow (1942) for the Pickwick Basin, and, most recently, Behrend (1978) for the lower Illinois River valley, and Hillson (1979) for the Nile River valley (see also other evidence from Lambert et al., 1979). Although it is difficult to point to specific dietary differences, the data from these analyses and the Georgia coast suggest important differences in diet between females and males with the shift to an agricultural subsistence mode. Several recent ethnographic accounts of extant human groups point to female/male subsistence differences. For instance, at Ngarulurutja (Australia), it was demonstrated “that in spite of rules about sharing, the persons who did the most hunting ate the most meat. It is clear that the young men who actually caught the game consumed most of it” (Hayden, 1979, p. 166; see also Lee, 1968; Woodburn, 1968; Meehan, 1977a, b). With respect to the Georgia coast, ethnohistoric accounts of local populations-the Gualeand the southeast in general indicate that there was in fact strict sexual division of most activities, including those associated with subsistence. Females appear to have been primarily responsible for most plant gathering and agricultural activities such as field preparation, planting, harvesting, and food preparation. The males, on the other hand, were responsible for hunting (Swanton, 1942, 1946; Hudson, 1976). These records, then, provide a basis for explaining the disparity in agricultural female/ male frequencies of dental caries on the Georgia coast. That is, if the Georgia coastal agricultural males were differentially receiving more protein-that acquired on the hunt-and less carbohydrates (maize), and the females vice versa, then those individuals ingesting relatively more maize-the females-developed more carious teeth. Conclusions This paper has demonstrated a source of information for the investigation of social organization in the prehistoric past, Specifically, it was indicated that the dietary change associated with the shift from a subsistence mode based on hunting and gathering to agriculture affected the females more than the males. In addition, these data were used to clarify behavioural differences between the sexes after AD 1150. Acknowledgements This research was made possible through the generous support of the Edward John Noble Foundation and The American Museum of Natural History. Specifically, I thank Dr David Hurst Thomas for involving me in the archaeology and biological anthropology of the Georgia coast through the St. Catherines Island Archaeological Project. The
TEMPORAL CHANGE IN CARIOGENESIS
7
collection of data and subsequent analysis were completed during tenure of a Smithsonian Institution Predoctoral Fellowship in the Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History. I appreciate the helpful comments, corrections, and criticisms given by the following individuals: Milford H. Wolpoff, David Hurst Thomas, Douglas H. Ubekaler, Christopher S. Peebles, Nathaniel H. Rowe, David S. Carlson, T. Dale Stewart, J. Lawrence Angel, Donald J. Ortner, Vincas Steponaitis, and two anonymous reviewers. A preliminary version of this paper was presented at the fiftieth annual meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, Detroit. References Behrend, G. A. (1978). The epidemiology of dental caries and subsistence pattern change. American
Journal
of Physical
Anthropology 48, 380. in the Lower Illinois River Valley: A RegionaI Approach to Variability and Mortuary Activity. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation,
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Swanton, J. R. (1946). Indians of the Southeastern United States. Bureau of American Ethnology,
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Tainter, J. A. (1980). Behavior and status in a Middle Woodland mortuary population from the Illinois Valley. American Antiquity 45, 308-313. Thomas, D. H. (1976). Figuring Anthropology: First Principles of Probability and Statistics. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston. Thomas, D. H. & Larsen, C. S. (1979). The anthropology of St. Catherines Island: 2. The Refuge-Deptford mortuary complex. Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History 56, l-180. Wilkinson, R. G. & Norelli, R. J. (1981). A biocultural analysis of social organization at Monte Alban. American Antiquity 46, 743-758. Woodburn, J. (1968). An introduction to Hadza ecology. In (R. B. Lee & I. DeVore, Eds) Man the Hunter. Chicago: Aldine, pp. 49-55.