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

Project Information

TRI-DENTUM

Grant agreement ID: 891511

DOI

10.3030/891511

Project closed

EC signature date 20 April 2020

Start date 1 February 2021

End date 31 January 2023

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 191 149,44

EU contribution

€ 191 149,44

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITAT ZURICH
Switzerland

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - TRI-DENTUM (Inferring Past Human Diets through a three-fold approach: Dental Microwear, micro-residues within Dental Calculus and Erosion Patterns of the Temporomandibular joint (TMJ))

Reporting period: 2021-02-01 to 2023-01-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The TRI-DENTUM project aimed to investigate past human diets from an evolutionary perspective. It involved research in archaeology, biology, dentistry, and evolutionary medicine. The main aim was to build an innovative and multidisciplinary method to infer past human diets from the examination of dental remains. The diet of selected individuals recovered from two medieval cemeteries had to be studied and diet and dental status had to be reconstructed through an original, three-fold approach. Three independent analyses were applied: macroscopic analysis, radiology, and proteomics.
It is important to know how dental diseases evolved and the role of diet and behaviour in the process. This could potentially ameliorate dental conditions in the present populations.
Documenting oral diseases in ancient human remains is the first step toward a thorough reconstruction of the ancient epidemiology of these diseases.
The results of this project are the first step towards a more in-depth approach, including a larger number of archaeological sites. The main objective was to infer the dietary habits of medieval populations based on a combined method including the analysis of dental pathologies in selected individuals; analysis of dental calculus and analysis of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) of the same individuals.
Since the two sites have different chronological dates, it was possible to apply an evolutionary approach when interpreting the results from dental paleo-pathologies and from ancient proteins retrieved from dental calculus.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The datasets comprising data on dental pathologies and analysis of dental calculus were completed. All dentitions were photographed and studied.
Samples of calculus were collected and processed. Proteomic analysis was performed, and data is being processed at the moment.
All TMJs were either radiographed or CT scanned, and data is still being processed.
In terms of dissemination, one scientific article is under review at the moment, whereas two other articles are being prepared.
All raw data will be available for future use and be either published along with the papers or deposited in public data repositories.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The TRI-DENTUM project used an innovative method to study ancient dentitions. This method combines multiple analysis to achieve a holistic view on oral pathologies and diet in the past.
This can positively impact the field of anthropology. Moreover, the multidisciplinary aspect of this project has the potential to bridge the gap between very distant fields, such as medicine and anthropology.

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