Dental Anthropology

Book excerpt: Teeth are one of the best sources of evidence for both identification and studies of demography, biological relationships and health in ancient human communities. This text introduces the complex biology of teeth and provides a practical guide to the: • excavation, cleaning, storage and recording of dental remains • identification of human teeth including those in a worn or fragmentary state • methods for studying variation in tooth morphology • study of microscopic internal and external structure of dental tissues, and methods of age-determination • estimation of age-at-death from dental development, tooth wear and dental histology • recording of dental disease in archaeological and museum collections Dental Anthropology is the text for students and researchers in anthropology and archaeology, together with others interested in dental remains from archaeological sites, museum collections or forensic cases.