Infant feeding practices and childhood diet at Apollonia Pontica: Isotopic and dental evidence.
OBJECTIVE
This study analyzes deciduous dental pathology and stable isotopes to investigate the relationship between diet, feeding practices, and oral health in a subadult skeletal sample from the Greek colonial site of Apollonia Pontica, Bulgaria (mid-5th to mid-3rd Centuries BC).


METHODS
Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis was conducted on 74 bone collagen samples, and the deciduous dentitions of 85 individuals aged 8.5 months to 11 years were examined for evidence of caries, calculus, antemortem tooth loss, abscesses, and occlusal tooth wear.


RESULTS
δ(13) C and δ(15) N values of the collagen samples indicate that weaning began between the ages of 6 months and 1 year, and was complete for most individuals by the age of 3. The isotopic data are consistent with a mixed diet of primarily terrestrial C3 resources. The dental pathology data indicate that complementary foods provided to young children had an impact on their oral health early on. Four outliers exhibited elevated δ(15) N values compared with the adult female range and lower levels of tooth wear than other members of their age groups. Possible explanations include prolonged breastfeeding, the consumption of diets elevated in (15) N, and physiological/nutritional stress.


CONCLUSIONS
The deciduous dental data correlate well with the isotopic data and are consistent with later textual sources regarding the timing and duration of weaning, and the composition of complementary foods. The results of this research demonstrate the value of combining isotopic and dental evidence to investigate the dietary practices of infants and young children and the impact of these practices on oral health.
Anthropology Museum, University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg, MB, R3B 2E9, Canada.
Jodi
J
Schmidt
Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, T2N 1N4, Canada.
Cynthia
C
Kwok
Department of Anthropology, Trent University, Peterborough, ON, K9J 7B8, Canada.
Anne
A
Keenleyside
D000328:Adult; D000885:Anthropology, Physical; D001942:Breast Feeding / Q000266:history; D002031:Bulgaria; D002048:Burial; D002247:Carbon Isotopes / Q000032:analysis*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D049690:History, Ancient; D049691:History, Medieval; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D009587:Nitrogen Isotopes / Q000032:analysis*; D012272:Ribs / Q000737:chemistry; D014076:Tooth Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000266:history; D014094:Tooth, Deciduous / Q000737:chemistry*
D002247:Carbon Isotopes; D009587:Nitrogen Isotopes
Greek; breastfeeding; dentition; stable isotopes; weaning