The Sustainability of Dental Calculus for Archaeological Research
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution
Title of host publication | Shallow Pasts, Endless Horiozons: Sustainability & Archaeology |
---|
Date | Submitted - 2016 |
---|
Date | Accepted/In press - 22 Jan 2017 |
---|
Date | Published (current) - 16 Feb 2017 |
---|
Pages | 74-81 |
---|
Number of pages | 8 |
---|
Editors | Julien Favreau, Robert Patalano |
---|
Original language | English |
---|
Dental calculus is a mineralized plaque biofilm formed by microbiota of the oral microbiome. Until recently, the vast research potential of dental calculus for archaeological study was not fully appreciated and it was often discarded. It is now recognized that dental calculus entombs and preserves valuable microfossils and biomolecules within its matrix. While microscopic and bimolecular analysis of calculus is destructive, judicious sampling of relatively small quantities of material can provide unique information on ancient health and diet. Additionally, dental calculus is not classified as human tissue, but as an ectopic growth, and in some cases may provide an alternative approach to the destructive analysis of human skeletal remains. We present a case study recovering proteins, DNA and microscopic debris from Roman Age individuals to demonstrate the important insights into diet, health and disease that can be obtained from even minute quantities of dental calculus.
© 2017 The Chacmool Archaeological Association of the University of Calgary
Project: Other project › Other internal award
Discover related content
Find related publications, people, projects, datasets and more using interactive charts.
View graph of relations