THE UISPP JOURNAL
Raquel Hernando, Juan Ignacio Morales, Francesc Xavier Oms, Artur Cebrià, Marina Lozano – A METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH TO INFER THE DIET: THE CASE OF THE CHILDREN FROM COVA DE LA GUINEU (FONT-RUBÍ, BARCELONA, SPAIN)
Dental microwear is a widely used technique to infer the diet of ancient populations. This method allows to determine not only the physical properties of the food, such as abrasiveness or hardness, but also informs about how food was processed before being consumed. This technique is applied, in both buccal and occlusal dental surfaces, by means of the Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope (ESEM). However, there are no extensive studies comparing the information obtained by both surfaces in the same individuals. Different features can be found depending on the surface observed. The buccal microwear pattern is presented as striations while on the occlusal surface, microwear pattern is conformed by striations and pits, given that this surface is not only affected by the abrasiveness of the diet, but also depend on the “tooth to tooth wear” contact during chewing. The aim of this study is the use of both approaches’ methodologies in the same individuals to compare the microwear pattern in the two surfaces, and test if the pattern of the diet inferred depends on the observed surface. Buccal pattern has a slower renewal than occlusal pattern, this means that it provides information about the diet of an individual for longer time periods, while occlusal pattern due to its fast renewal provides information about the diet during the last days or weeks before the individual's death. This is called “the last supper effect”.
Reference as:
Hernando R, Morales JI, Oms FX, Cebrià A, Lozano M. 2019. A methodological approach to infer the diet: the case of the children from Cova de la Guineu (Font-Rubí, Barcelona, Spain). UISPP Journal 2(2), pp 54–59. https://doi.org/10.62526/58CUT3
