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Dental Caries, Prehistoric Diet, and the Pithouse-to-Pueblo Transition in Southwestern Colorado

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Karen Gust Schollmeyer  and
Christy G. Turner II
Karen Gust Schollmeyer
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Arizona State University, Box 2402, Tempe, AZ 85287-2402
Christy G. Turner II
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Arizona State University, Box 2402, Tempe, AZ 85287-2402
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Abstract

Researchers in different parts of the southwestern United States continue to debate whether the end of the Basketmaker period coincides with a general shift from supplemental to intensive maize agriculture across the U.S. Southwest. In some areas this transition appears to have occurred earlier, with heavy reliance on agriculture appearing by the Basketmaker II period. In this study, evidence from dental caries in southwestern Colorado populations supports the latter view, suggesting that Basketmaker subsistence in this area included a heavy reliance on agricultural products. Dental caries frequencies in both Basketmaker and post-Basketmaker samples are well within the expected range for full-time agriculturalists. Although there is no significant association between time period and caries rate, frequencies of interproximal caries and numbers of carious teeth per individual may indicate maize-processing differences between samples obtained from the two temporal periods. Differences in the intensity of maize production, rather than consumption, may contribute to the current lack of agreement on the timing of Southwestern agricultural dependence.

Resumen

Resumen

Investigadores de diferentes partes del Suroeste de los Estados Unidos continúan debatiendo acerca de la correspondencia entre finalización del período Basketmaker y la transición del movimiento general de la agricultura suplementaria al cultivo más intensivo de maíz en el Suroeste de los Estados Unidos. En algunos lugares de la región, este cambio parece haber sucedido más temprano, con una dependencia de la agricultura que aparece durante el período Basketmaker II. En esta investigación, la evidencia de caries dentales en poblaciones del suroeste de Colorado apoya la segunda propuesta, sugiriendo que la agricultura de autoabastecimiento durante el período Basketmaker en esta área incluía una dependencia de los productos agrícolas. Frecuencias de caries dentales de las poblaciones de los períodos Basketmaker y pos-Basketmaker caen dentro del rango anticipado de los pueblos estables. A pesar de la falta de diversidad significativa en el índice de caries entre las diferentes poblaciones, las frecuencias de caries interproximales y los números de dientes cariados por individuo puede significar alguna diferencia en el procesamiento del maíz entre las dos poblaciones.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 69 , Issue 3 , July 2004 , pp. 569 - 582
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 2004

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