Scott E. Burnett

Archaeological investigation at the Grand Bay site on the island of Carriacou in the southern Grenadines revealed a large Amerindian village site dating to between AD 400 and 1300. Found across the site were deposits with extensive artifactual and faunal assemblages accompanied by skeletal remains from more than two dozen human burials. Bioarchaeological research of these remains, along with a small number of individuals recovered from other sites on the island-represent the first osteological work focused on precontact lifeways, demography, health, diet, and mobility on Carriacou and are providing important clues regarding the peoples who settled on this small island over the course of a millennium. Here we report on the osteological and isotopic analysis of these remains.

Teeth have long been a focus of body modication as a visible and durable medium for communication with others through tooth removal (ablation), or alteration of tooth appearance by imbedding inlays, dyeing or painting the tooth crown, or shaping the occlusal or labial surfaces or both. One or more of these techniques for modication of the dentition have been employed on every populated continent at some point for the past twenty thousand years. Given the geographic and temporal distribution of intentional dental modication, the immense variability in such practices cannot be surprising. This chapter provides an overview of the primary types of intentional dental modication and discusses their classication and identication. It also reviews the geographic and temporal distribution of intentional dental modication worldwide and discusses the cultural signicance and implications of these practices.

The Southwest United States is one of the few North American regions north of Mexico where prehistoric intentional dental modification has been identified. The practice may 1) result from diffusion from further south, 2) represent the presence of Mesoamericans in the Southwest U.S., or 3) have an independent, local origin. However, these interpretations depend on correct identification of intentional dental modification, which may be difficult in practice. The purpose of this chapter is to characterize and reassess 14 proposed cases using a single set of criteria for distinguishing between intentional and unintentional dental modification. The dentitions exhibit considerable variation in appearance and many bear characteristics suggestive of incidental chipping or occupational wear. As a practice rife with cultural implications, this exercise underscores the attention needed on the criteria on which intentionality is interpreted, particularly in regions with few cases of dental modification and no historic record of the practice.

Modifications to human tooth number, shape, surface, and color are among those long used to impart information about the individual, their society, and relationship to others. The practice of intentional dental modification is widespread, occurring at some point in time in most major areas of the world. The purpose of this chapter is threefold: 1) to describe the principal ways in which human societies around the world modified their teeth by ablation, filing, embedding inlays, or dyeing; 2) to delineate the goals of the volume, including the organization of contributions into geographic regions, and brief comments on other regions where the practice may be found; 3) to provide basic terminology on tooth type, position, and composition to help readers get the most out of this volume.

Dental wear refers to the loss of dental tissues by any combination of attrition, abrasion, and corrosion. This chapter concerns the definition and identification of these different forms and their assessment. Dental wear analysis may be qualitative, through the use of ordinal wear scales, or quantitative, either through the measurement of crown height reduction or by calculating the proportion of dentine exposure. Although such data are frequently used for the analysis of subsistence patterns or age estimation, dental wear also raises methodological issues concerning other dental analyses. Potential effects on morphological, or nonmetric, dental trait frequencies are described and subsequently demonstrated in the analysis of four traits. Two traits exhibit statistically significant wear‐related biases in trait frequency or grade distribution, and a non‐significant frequency trend is identified in a third. This analysis demonstrates the need for additional attention to wear biases on dental trait frequency.