An Examination of the Link Between Social Roles and Dental Health: A Study Among Three Ontario Iroquoian Populations

Abstract

<p>Learning about the individual in a past society can be an interesting and important yet often difficult endeavour. Although the many different classes of artifacts recovered from archaeological sites provide varying lines of evidence. the skeletal remains of the people themselves teach us the most about pre-contact health and nutrition. The focus of this study was to examine individuals from three Ontario Iroquoian ossuaries and evaluate their dental disease. Comparisons between individuals were based upon each person' s sex status and age category. in order to determine whether or not adult females and males in these populations differed in their dental health. Mandibles and maxillae were examined from 158 adults interred at the Uxbridge (BbGs-3 ). Kleinburg (AIGv-l ) and Syers (no Borden designation) ossuaries. These people lived during the Late Ontario lroquoian period (circa AD 1350-1600). subsisting primarily on maize. beans and squash cultigens.</p> <p>As expected for their subsistence economy, most individuals exhibited high levels ofdental disease. ascertained by caries. pulp exposures. antemortem tooth loss and abscesses. Results for the Observed Caries Rate. the Diseased Missing Index and the Corrected Caries Rate did, in some cases, difter between the male and female adults, although a common pattern in these differences was not evident when the three distinct ossuary populations were compared with one another.</p> <p>Variations in dental disease may have been caused by the chemistry. texture and amounts of foods eaten. and the frequency and duration of meals. The ethnohistoric. ethnographic and archaeological records \vere consulted to determine whether or not the adult males and females in these lroquoian communities may have eaten differently on a regular basis. It is probable that their daily activities determined access to certain types of foods and the number of meals eaten. lroquoian women may have been inadvertently placed at a higher risk for long-term dental disease which would have influenced their overall health. Research of this nature yields much about the lives of past peoples and illustrates the importance of studying skeletal remains and interpreting the results by utilizing the ethnohistoric and archaeological records.</p>