30 White Horses Upon a Red Hill

Time for a little lab work update. This summer, I am primarily focusing on teeth and slight variations in dental formations that can indicate genetic relationships between people. Not the most riveting work but it will (hopefully) be really helpful in figuring out who these people buried at temples were and how they knew each other!

So teeth are pretty cool and can actually tell us a lot about people. Your dentist probably knows (or at least could know) more intimate details about you than you'd think! Here are some "fun" facts about teeth...

Humans have a dental formula (the order of the types of our teeth) that is unique to Old World (Africa/Europe/Asia) primates. Ours is 2:1:2:3, which means for each quadrant of our mouth (splitting our upper and lower jaws down the middle) we have 2 incisors, 1 canine, 2 premolars (or bicisupids), and 3 molars. Having these 4 different types of teeth is pretty cool- we can tear into stuff with our incisors and canines and really grind up tough foods with those molars. Other animals have really specialized dentition (think beavers, hippos, or most carnivores) that can also tell archaeologists, zoologists, and other interested people what types of food they eat.

Notably, that 3rd molar is giving a lot of people trouble these days (why we get our "wisdom" teeth removed!) because our diets have become more refined and our mouths are getting smaller, leaving less room to cram in all those molars!

Tooth problems can also tell you a lot (and cause you a lot of trouble if you have them!). Cavities are most often related to what types of food you are eating-- we all have been lectured about eating less sugar to prevent cavities! But there are a number of other factors too that contribute to the creation of cavities, such as the "stickiness" of your food (carbs are all pretty sticky), the acidity of your mouth (which naturally varies from person to person), whether you are pregnant (which changes the amount of saliva you have- who knew??), and thickness of dental enamel. So cavities are not the MOST reliable indicator of food but can give you some ideas. Here in the Andes, cavities in the past seem to be most closely related to eating maize (corn) or chewing coca. Location of the cavity on the tooth can help you figure out which!

Another cool thing about teeth is that the exact form of your tooth is pretty variable from person to person (what I'm looking into this summer). Your lower molars can have anywhere from 4-7 cusps, for example! I've spent a lot of time looking at past teeth of course, but have also been investigating my own in the mirror, because I'm a big nerd, duh. I learned that I have 6 cusps on my first 2 bottom molars (left and right) and only 4 on my left 3rd molar. The right one still hasn't erupted, which probably means it'll stay hidden forever, unless I get it removed!

Anyway. Really interesting stuff, right?? Now go brush your teeth and don't get cavities!