'One tooth one child': evaluating the effects of diet and fertility on the oral health of women from archaeological sites in South America.

Women from ancient societies have shown a higher prevalence of dental caries in comparison with men. Recent research has shown that the relationship between increased oestrogen production during pregnancy and decreased salivary flow is a possible cause for the higher levels of caries in women, which is in contrast to the traditional view of sexual division of labour resulting in unequal access to cariogenic food. In order to test these two hypotheses, individuals exhumed from 12 South American archaeological sites were examined for markers of oral health (caries, ante mortem tooth loss, deep caries, and enamel hypoplasia) and compared in terms of fertility (Crude Birth Rate) and subsistence systems. Our results suggest that diet and other cultural practices remain the most important factors affecting oral health and that the effects of hormones can be masked by them. Such findings add to the discussion regarding the availability of micronutrients in such societies affecting caries experience in pregnant women, because of their special nutritional requirements.

Evidence of variability in carbohydrate consumption in prehistoric fisher-hunter-gatherers of Southeastern Brazil: Spatiotemporal trends of oral health markers.

OBJECTIVES: In this study, we evaluate the role of plants in the diet of fisher-hunter gatherers adapted to highly productive coastal environments. Oral health markers were used to track spatiotemporal variations (regional and diachronic) in the composition of carbohydrate in the diets of prehistoric shell mound builders (sambaqui) from the Southeast of Brazil. Our main objective is to test the supposed stability in the dietary habits of sambaqui populations and identify modulating effects of chronological, cultural, and/or ecological factors. METHODS: Eighteen oral health markers (divided into three categories: caries, periodontal disease, and dental wear) were applied in 233 individuals from 7 sambaquis (dated between 4800 and 1100 BP) from 5 geographic regions. RESULTS: Our results reveal variable oral health patterns among sites. Despite that, we found a number of common features, such as dental wear and associated pulp lesions. Some oral health patterns are compatible with cariogenic diets and high carbohydrate consumption. CONCLUSIONS: Our analyses suggest that plant resource management is plausible at some sites and support the emerging evidence that plant consumption among sambaqui populations was driven more by ecologic factors than chronological or cultural ones. A comprehensive record of oral health markers shows promise as a methodology to differentiate between otherwise extremely similar diets.

Analysis of starch grains trapped in human dental calculus in Áspero, Peru during the Initial Formative Period (3000-1800 BCE).

The objective of this research is to identify the plants consumed and to determine their dietary importance in Áspero, an urban center on the coast of the Supe Valley, Peru. Consequently, starch grains trapped in the human dental calculus of nine individuals were recovered, while the results from one individual from the Sacred City of Caral, located in the interior of Supe Valley, are presented. Eight species of food plants were identified, among them C3 plants: sweet potato, squash, potato, chili pepper, algarrobo, manioc and bean and C4 plant: maize. Previous isotopic analysis indicates that C3 plants formed the foundation of the diet at Áspero and Caral. Our results indicate a high ubiquity of C3 plants like sweet potato (100%) and squash (90%) suggesting, with caution, that these taxa were an important C3 source in the menu. Maize, C4 plant, showed a similar ubiquity (100%) to sweet potato and squash, however, previous isotopic analysis indicate that maize was a marginal food in Áspero and Caral. These results support that the absence and abundance of starch grains cannot be employed to directly infer the frequency of intake of C3 and C4 plants within a small population, as suggested by previous studies.

The diet at the onset of the Andean Civilization: New stable isotope data from Caral and Áspero, North-Central Coast of Peru.

OBJECTIVES: The subsistence system of the first urban centers with monumental architecture from the North-Central Coast of Peru, the core area for the social complexity process of Central Andes, has been debated since the late 1960s. To shed light on this aspect, we report paleodietary data from the two most important sites of the Supe Valley: Caral (3000-200 BC), the major settlement of the middle valley, and Áspero (3000-1800 BC), a notable coastal settlement. Our main objective was to test the Maritime Foundations of Andean Civilization hypothesis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Stable isotope values (δ13 Ccol , δ13 Cap , and δ15 N) from 52 individuals (70 samples: 44 bones and 26 teeth) were analyzed using conventional methods and Bayesian Mixing Models to address the role of marine products and plants in people's diet at both sites over time. RESULTS: Our results suggest high C3 carbohydrate consumption (55%-68% total calories in Áspero and >70% in Caral). The consumption of marine resources was stable for Áspero between 3300 and 1800 BC, but it decreased for Caral between 2550 and 200 BC. DISCUSSION: Marine protein was more important in Áspero than in Caral over time. C3 plants, possibly tubers, formed the foundation of the diet in both sites during the Formative period (~3000-200 BC). Maize was a marginal food (<12% of calories) at least until 800 BC (29% of calories). The Maritime Foundations hypothesis does not completely account for these findings. Our results suggest the predominance of crop-focused agriculture during the evaluated period.

Child development, physiological stress and survival expectancy in prehistoric fisher-hunter-gatherers from the Jabuticabeira II shell mound, South Coast of Brazil.

In this study, we shed light on the interdependency of child growth, morbidity and life expectancy in the fisher-hunter-gatherers of the Jabuticabeira II shell mound (1214-830 cal B.C.E. - 118-413 cal C.E.) located at the South Coast of Brazil. We test the underlying causes of heterogeneity in frailty and selective mortality in a population that inhabits a plentiful environment in sedentary settlements. We reconstruct osteobiographies of 41 individuals (23 adults and 18 subadults) using 8 variables, including age-at-death, stature, non-specific stress markers (cribra orbitalia, porotic hyperostosis, periosteal reactions, periapical lesions and linear enamel hypoplasia), as well as weaning patterns based on stable isotope data to examine how stress factors module growth and survival. Our results show that shorter adult statures were linked to higher morbidity around weaning age and higher chances of dying earlier (before 35 years) than taller adult statures. In addition, short juvenile stature was related to physiological stressors and mortality. The adult "survivors" experienced recurrent periods of morbidity during childhood and adulthood, possibly associated with the high parasite load of the ecosystem and dense settlement rather than to malnourishment. An association between early-stress exposure and premature death was not demonstrated in our sample. To explain our data, we propose a new model called "intermittent stress of low lethality". According to this model, individuals are exposed to recurrent stress during the juvenile and adult stages of life, and, nevertheless survive until reproductive age or later with relative success.

Middle Holocene plant cultivation on the Atlantic Forest coast of Brazil?

This work provides robust oral pathology and stable isotope evidence on Bayesian mixing model for an unexpectedly high consumption of carbohydrates by a Middle Holocene coastal population of the Atlantic Forest of South America, an area traditionally viewed as peripheral to early centres of food production on the continent. A diversified economy with substantial consumption of plant resources was in place at the shellmound (or sambaqui) of Morro do Ouro, in Babitonga Bay, and supported a dense population at ca 4500 cal BP. This dietary composition is unique when compared with that of other contemporary and later groups in the region, including peoples who used ceramics and domesticated crops. The results corroborate independent dietary evidence, such as stone tool artefacts for plant processing and plant microremains in dental calculus of the same individuals, and suggest plant cultivation possibly took place in this region at the same time as the development of early agriculture in Amazonia and the La Plata Basin. Our study situates the Atlantic Forest coast of Brazil on the map of early plant management in the Neotropics.

Oral pathology patterns in late farmers of the Central Andes: A comparative perspective between coastal and highland populations.

Aiming at future comparisons with earlier hunter-gatherers or transitional populations, this paper intends to characterize and describe the oral pathology pattern of late agriculturalists from Central Andes dating to the Late Intermediate Period (LIP) and Inca periods (1000-1532 CE), and identify differences and/or similarities between coastal and highland populations. Although the botanical inventories of the LIP suggest carbohydrate-rich diets and similar components, it has been hypothesized that coastal and highland populations had, nevertheless, substantially different oral pathology patterns. We evaluated 14 indicators of oral pathology from Los Pinos (n=200) and Armatambo (n=25) sites in the Central Coast and two chronological phases from Laguna de los Cóndores site (LC-Inca, n=23; and LC-LIP, n=55), in the Peruvian northern highlands. The results showed a recurrent pattern of oral pathologies characterized by cervical caries (above 30%), extra-occlusal caries (above 60%), high rates of gross-gross caries, high frequency of ante mortem tooth loss, and signals of periodontal disease among these four populations. The diets of the coast were slightly more abrasive than those of the highlands. Oral pathology patterns were compatible with a slightly more cariogenic diet in the coast than in the highlands. In all four populations, those patterns were modulated by other common factors such as consumption of fermented drinks (maize beer - chicha) and the coca leaf chewing habit.