Dento-alveolar features and diet in an Etruscan population (6th-3rd c. B.C.) from northeast Italy.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence of some dento-alveolar features (caries, dental calculus, tooth wear, enamel hypoplasia, abscesses, retraction of the alveolar bone, chipping, and ante mortem tooth loss) on an Iron Age sample from the Etruscan necropolis of Spina (North-Eastern Italy) and to make a relation with dietary evidence found in the archaeological records. These dental features were used to evaluate the oral health status and dietary habits with the aim of shedding light on the lifestyle and living conditions of this population.


METHODS
The sample analysed consisted of 680 permanent teeth from 80 burials.


RESULTS
Overall, individuals at Spina exhibited a low incidence of caries, abscesses and ante mortem tooth loss, high calculus rates and severe attrition, suggesting a subsistence pattern based on a mixture of fishing, pastoralism and agriculture. The low incidence of hypoplasia was probably related to their good nutritional conditions and weak metabolic stresses during early childhood.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings, quite similar to those of Etruscans from other parts of Italy, are very different from those of other populations living in the same territory during the same time. This pattern is indicative of a general good health status in this Iron Age population and may be related, at least in part, to the Etruscan diet.
Department of Biomedical Sciences and Surgery Specialties, School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Ferrara, Corso Ercole I D'Este 32, Ferrara, Italy.
S
S
Masotti
N
N
Onisto
M
M
Marzi
E
E
Gualdi-Russo
D001106:Archaeology / Q000379:methods; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000208:ethnology / Q000266:history*; D004032:Diet / Q000208:ethnology / Q000266:history*; D005260:Female; D049690:History, Ancient; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D010161:Paleodontology / Q000379:methods*; D016388:Tooth Loss / Q000208:ethnology / Q000266:history*; D057085:Tooth Wear / Q000208:ethnology / Q000266:history*