Reconstructing cultural behavior from dental wear studies: is para-facets analysis approach scientifically valid?
It is common knowledge, that in archaic populations teeth were used as tools, this behavior can be studied by evaluating attrition patterns. Parafacets were defined as nonmasticatory wear areas that have no antagonist matching wear facets. The presence of the parafacets led to far-reaching conclusions regarding cultural interactions between Near Eastern Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans. This study was aimed to examine the identification of parafacets in some of the Qafzeh specimens. Based on findings of our research we suggest that the attrition facets mistakenly considered as parafacets are in fact the result of the static and dynamic occlusion. Therefore the observations induce much less dramatic interpretation. We here propose several guidelines that would be beneficial in that they aim to evaluate the parafacets with heightened accuracy.
Department of Orthodontics, Maurice and Gabriela Goldschleger School of Dental Medicine and the Department of Anatomy and Anthropology, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv 69978, Israel. Electronic address: rachel.sarig@gmail.com.
Rachel
R
Sarig
UMR 5199 - PACEA, Anthropologie des populations passées et présentes, Université Bordeaux 1, avenue des Facultés, 33405 Talence, France.
Anne-marie
AM
Tillier
D000818:Animals; D001519:Behavior; D003466:Cultural Characteristics / Q000266:history; D003766:Dental Occlusion; D005580:Fossils / Q000473:pathology*; D049690:History, Ancient; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel; D059125:Neanderthals; D019217:Tooth Attrition / Q000266:history / Q000473:pathology; D057085:Tooth Wear / Q000266:history* / Q000473:pathology