Neanderthals, trees and dental calculus: new evidence from El Sidrón

• Autores: Anita Radini, Stephen Buckley, Antonio Rosas González, Almudena Estalrrich, Marco de la Rasilla Vives, Karen Hardy
• Localización: Antiquity, ISSN 0003-598X, Vol. 90, Nº 350, 2016, págs. 290-301
• Idioma: inglés
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• Dialnet Métricas: 3 Citas
• Resumen

  • Analysis of dental calculus is increasingly important in archaeology, although the focus has hitherto been on dietary reconstruction. Non-edible material has, however, recently been extracted from the dental calculus of a Neanderthal population from the 49 000-year-old site of El Sidrón, Spain, in the form of fibre and chemical compounds that indicate conifer wood. Associated dental wear confirms that the teeth were being used for non-dietary activities. These results highlight the importance of dental calculus as a source of wider biographical information, and demonstrate the need to include associated data within research, in particular tooth wear, to maximise this valuable resource.