Abstract:
ABSTRACT
DENTAL PATHOLOGY DISTRIBUTION AND SEX RATIOS IN
WINDMILLER POPULATIONS FROM CENTRAL
CALIFORNIA
by
Katharine E. Kolpan
Master of Arts in Anthropology
California State University, Chico
Spring 2009
This thesis focuses on how dental pathologies may be used to make inferences about the subsistence patterns of a prehistoric hunter-gatherer population. Dental caries and dental attrition are often used as markers to indicate subsistence changes, such as the transition from foraging to agriculture. However, pathological changes to teeth may also be used to indicate differences in subsistence and dietary patterns among non-agricultural populations. Previous investigations in California and beyond have suggested that females display higher rates of dental caries than their male counterparts. Various lines of evidence have been used to explain the disparity in dental caries prevalence between men and women. Some have argued that it may be, in part, physiological, with female hormone production decreasing salivary flow and increasing the risk of developing dental caries. Others have suggested it is due to female's position as gatherers allowing them greater access to plant resources, which they may have consumed in larger quantities, both at meal times and in between meals. In this study, I analyze rates of dental caries among males and females from archaeological sites associated with Windmiller skeletal assemblages (ca. 4500-2500 B.P.) in California's Central Valley to test whether females exhibit statistically higher proportions of dental caries than males.
I analyzed 138 and 111 individuals from the Windmiller (CA-SAC-107) and Phelps (CA-SJO-56) Mounds, respectively. The final sample included 11 individuals from the Windmiller Mound and 45 individuals from the Phelps Mound. These data were compared to 93 individuals from two previously analyzed Windmiller sites, the Blossom Mound (CA-SJO-68) and the McGillivray #1 Mound (CA-SJO-142). While females exhibited a higher proportion of dental caries at all four sites, the difference was significant only in the Phelps and Blossom Mound samples. However, when caries rates for all four sites were combined females exhibited significantly more caries than males. While some of this disparity is likely due to physiological differences, I argue that the majority of the differences between the sexes in terms of dental caries may be due to female's roles as gatherers and their differential access to plant resources.
