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Patterns in ritual tooth avulsion at Roonka.

Arthur C Durband1, Judith Littleton, Keryn Walshe

  • 1Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work, Texas Tech University, Struck, Lubbock, TX; Department of Archaeology, Flinders University, Bedford Park, Australia; Department of Anthropology, Science Centre, South Australian Museum, Australia.

American Journal of Physical Anthropology
|May 16, 2014
PubMed
Summary

Tooth avulsion, the ritual removal of teeth, showed changing patterns at Roonka over time. Older burials featured bilateral or left-biased single incisor removal, while later burials had unilateral right-biased removal.

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Area of Science:

  • Bioarchaeology
  • Physical Anthropology
  • Forensic Anthropology

Background:

  • Tooth avulsion is the intentional removal of teeth for ritual, aesthetic, or social reasons.
  • Maxillary incisors are most commonly removed.
  • Previous studies noted tooth avulsions at Roonka but did not analyze patterns.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To analyze patterns of tooth avulsion in individuals from Roonka.
  • To identify changes in tooth avulsion practices over time at the Roonka site.
  • To infer cultural shifts or group affiliations based on avulsion patterns.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of skeletal remains from Roonka burials.
  • Examination of tooth avulsion presence, location, and side bias.
  • Comparison of avulsion patterns between different burial phases (Phase II and Phase III).
Keywords:
AustraliaHoloceneMurray Riverdental modification

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Main Results:

  • Tooth avulsion frequency decreased from Phase II to Phase III.
  • Phase II burials showed bilateral or left-biased single maxillary incisor removal.
  • Phase III burials exhibited unilateral right-biased maxillary incisor removal.

Conclusions:

  • The observed changes in tooth avulsion patterns suggest significant cultural shifts at Roonka.
  • Alternatively, the site may have been utilized by multiple distinct cultural groups over time.
  • Tooth avulsion patterns can serve as indicators of social identity and cultural practices.