Dental wear and age grading at Roonka, South Australia

In many hunter-gatherer populations, the teeth are used as a third hand or a tool. Much attention has been paid to wear and its relationship to gendered division of labor, but age is also a significant organizing factor in many societies. In this article, I analyze whether the pattern of wear at Roonka, Australia, reflects the age-graded acquisition of tasks.

The remains analyzed come from Roonka and date from c6000 BP to 150 BP. In total 126 adults and juveniles were analyzed. Wear gradients were calculated for each tooth relative to wear on the first molar. Data were compared using nonparametric statistics and cluster analysis to assess the degree of patterning within the sample.

Dental wear proceeded rapidly. There is no evidence of sex differences in the pattern of wear. Age differences do occur. While disproportionate anterior wear occurs among juveniles and young adults, by middle adulthood the pattern is less variable and involves the premolars. Old adults have a much flatter pattern of wear.

The pattern of wear is consistent with ethnographic observations, which suggest a degree of latitude in the activities of juveniles and young adults. By middle age variability between individuals declines reflecting shared tasks and more intensive use of the teeth. The pattern of wear amongst old adults, however, is much flatter presumably due to changes in occlusion. While dental wear is informative about the organization of labor there is a need to take into account both patterns of activity and occlusion.