title: Dental indicators of adaptation in the Sahara Desert during the Late Holocene.
abstract: The present paper examines dental diseases and linear enamel hypoplasia among the Garamantes, a Late Holocene Saharan population, and aims to draw conclusions about nutrition and adaptation to a hyper-arid environment. Archaeological evidence suggests that the Garamantian diet included animal protein and local, Mediterranean and Near Eastern plants. Moreoever, although the Garamantes had developed urban centres, the size of these was not large enough to allow for particularly unhygienic conditions to appear. The above archaeological findings were partly corroborated by the current bioarchaeological study. At an intra-population level, the Garamantes showed limited sex differences in dental disease prevalence, while all dental conditions increased in frequency with age, as expected. At an inter-population level, the frequency of all dental conditions was comparable to that found among other North African groups, with the exception of ante-mortem tooth loss. The low frequency of most dental conditions is an indication that the Garamantian diet was overall balanced, while the high frequency of ante-mortem tooth loss may be related to factors such as oral hygiene, food preparation or eating mode, which cannot be controlled for osteologically. Finally, the low frequency of enamel hypoplasia suggests either that the Sahara did not inflict particular stresses on the population, or, more likely, that the Garamantes had developed effective mechanisms for coping with their natural environment.
authors.affiliation: University of Cambridge, Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, Fitzwilliam Street, Cambridge CB2 1QH, UK; Wiener Laboratory, The American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 54 Soudias Street, 107 76 Athens, Greece. Electronic address: efi.nikita@gmail.com.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Nikita
authors.affiliation: University of Leicester, School of Archaeology and Ancient History, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mattingly
authors.affiliation: University of Cambridge, Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, Fitzwilliam Street, Cambridge CB2 1QH, UK.
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Lahr
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D000352:Africa, Northern; D000818:Animals; D001106:Archaeology; D003889:Desert Climate; D004032:Diet / Q000266:history; D005260:Female; D005580:Fossils; D049690:History, Ancient; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010161:Paleodontology; D014070:Tooth / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology*; D014076:Tooth Diseases / Q000266:history* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D016388:Tooth Loss / Q000266:history