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Updated: Feb 3, 2026

Accuracy in Dental Medicine, A New Way to Measure Trueness and Precision
Published on: April 29, 2014
Pleistocene dental calculus: Recovering information on Paleolithic food items, medicines, paleoenvironment and
Karen Hardy1,2, Stephen Buckley3, Les Copeland4
1ICREA, Pg. Lluís Companys 23, 08010 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
Abstract:
Dental calculus is now widely used to recover information on items ingested in the past. It is particularly valuable in the earlier Paleolithic, where recovered data may represent the only evidence for plant use. Several recovery methods are used and each one produces different results. Biomolecular markers and genetic material recovered from dental calculus is providing new data on identifiable dietary and medicinal items and human microbial communities. The recovery of microfossils, in particular, starch granules, has triggered a new awareness of the role of plants in the diet throughout the Paleolithic. However, the minute amount of material recovered has little relationship with food eaten during a person's life, while salivary amylase breaks down cooked starch. Therefore, broader dietary interpretations and detection of cooked food are problematic. The study of ancient dental calculus holds great potential to recover information about past lives, within realistic parameters.
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