Interpretative potential of dental metrics for biodistance analyses in hunter-gatherers from Central Argentina. A theoretical-methodological approach.

L. LUNA

Homo. Journal of Comparative Human Biology

Elsevier

Año: 2015 vol. 66 p. 432 - 447

The use of dental metrics as a reliable tool for the assessment ofbiological distances has diversified dramatically in the last decades.In this paper some of the basic assumptions on this issue and thepotential of cervical measurements in biodistance protocols arediscussed. A sample of 1173 permanent teeth from 57 male andfemale individuals, recovered in Chenque I site (western Pampas,central Argentina), a Late Holocene hunter-gatherer cemetery, isexamined in order to test the impact of exogenous factors that mayhave influenced the phenotypic manifestation and affected dentalcrown sizes. The statistical association between dental metric data,obtained by measuring the mesiodistal and buccolingual diame-ters of the crown and cervix, and the quantification of hypoplasticdefects as a measure to evaluate the influence of the environmentin the dental phenotypic expression is evaluated. The results showthat socioenvironmental stress did not affect dental metrics andthat only the more stable teeth (first incisors, canines, first premo-lars and first molars) and three variables (buccolingual diameter ofthe crown and both mesiodistal and buccolingual measurementsof the cervix) should be included in multivariate analyses. Thesesuggestions must be strengthened with additional studies of otherregional samples to identify factors of variation among populations,so as to develop general guidelines for dental survey and biodis-tance analysis, but they are a first step for discussing assumptionsusually used and maximizing the available information for low-density hunter-gatherer societies.