Inferring Past Human Diets through a three-fold approach: Dental Microwear, micro-residues within Dental Calculus and Erosion Patterns of the Temporomandibular joint (TMJ)

Descripción del proyecto

Un enfoque triple para estudiar la nutrición humana en el pasado

La dieta humana ha evolucionado a lo largo de millones de años. Los cambios en la nutrición ofrecen pruebas fundamentales del papel de la adaptación cultural en el entorno cambiante del «Homo sapiens». Para estudiarlo, los investigadores se basan en métodos como el microdesgaste dentario (investigando los regímenes de masticación) y el sarro (analizando microrresiduos de los alimentos consumidos). Sin embargo, se necesita un enfoque innovador. El proyecto TRI-DENTUM, financiado con fondos europeos, desarrollará una metodología pionera con un enfoque multidisciplinar triple en un estudio de la nutrición humana en el pasado. Combinará análisis independientes del microdesgaste dentario, la extracción de microrresiduos del sarro y la evaluación de los signos radiológicos de artrosis en la articulación temporomandibular (ATM) en un estudio de muestras osteológicas de la colección arqueológica medieval de un cementerio alemán en el cantón de Zúrich.

Objetivo

Identifying past human diets is a key to understanding biological changes and cultural adaptations of Homo sapiens. A variety of proxies are generally considered to reconstruct ancient and historic nutrition, mostly recovered from osteological samples. Teeth are often subject to research, as they directly relate to mastication. Dental microwear is a direct evidence of differential masticatory regimes, while dental calculus may retain micro-residues of the food ingested. Yet, only a few studies have proposed the combination of dental microwear and analysis of dental calculus. Even more rarely, such data have been contextualized in the masticatory apparatus.
The TRI-DENTUM project aims to investigate past human diet from an evolutionary perspective. It is multidisciplinary in scope, as it involves archaeology, biology, dentistry and evolutionary medicine. It explores the possibility of developing innovative methodological approaches to infer past human diets from the examination of osteological specimens. The diet of selected individuals recovered from a medieval German cemetery and the Canton of Zurich’s archaeological collection will be reconstructed through an original, three-fold approach. Three independent analyses are considered: dental microwear, extraction of micro-residues from dental calculus and evaluation of radiological osteoarthritis signs in the temporomandibular joint (TMJ). While working on the project, the researcher will acquire new skills in bioarchaeology and evolutionary medicine at the Institute of Evolutionary Medicine (IEM) (Zurich, Switzerland).
TRI-DENTUM will foster advancements within archaeology, being therefore transformational to the field, as it will allow approaching past human diet with an innovative and holistic approach. Hence, the methodology designed herein will be applicable in the future to varied geographical areas and chronological periods to respond to specific questions related to the evolution of the human diet.