INTRA-AND INTERPOPULATION HUMAN BUCCAL TOOTH SURFACE MICROWEAR ANALYSIS : INFERENCES ABOUT DIET AND FORMATION PROCESSES

This study describes intra- and interpopulation buccal dental-microwear variability in ancient prehistoric and historic farmers, and in a modem (in vivo sample) Spanish population. An attempt has been made to relate micro-wear patterns to sex-age related factors and dietary habits among human groups from Spain. Casts of mandibular molar teeth of two age-grouped adults (∼17-25 and 25-35 years of age) of both sexes were examined with a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Micrographs were taken on buccal surfaces at 100× magnification. Buccal dental-microwear density and length (in micrometers) by orientation classified into four categories from 0° to 180° were recorded on well-preserved enamel micrographs using an image analysis software package. Finally, univariate and multivariate statistics were applied to examine intragroup sex-age factors and interpopulation diet-related differences in buccal-microwear patterns. No significant differences between groups defined by sex and age appeared. Nevertheless, males present a higher microwear density than females. On the other hand, adult age-group results indicate that the buccal-microwear pattern is an accumulative process. Significant differences (p<0.05) were found in the buccal-microwear density and length between groups, related to physical characteristics of their diets. An implication of these results is that intra- and interpopulation buccal-microwear might be an indicator of the physical diet nature regarding diet abrasiveness rather than dietary habits during the Holocene. Furthermore, long-term buccal-microwear turnover depends on the abrasive nature of the diet linked to dietary habits and food technical processing methods.