Human Dental Wear on the Late Holocene Populations, Papua-Indonesia

Abstract

This study aims to find out the wear pattern and the explanations behind tooth wear in the Late Holocene population in the lowland part of Papua. For this, 51 permanent teeth from five different archaeological sites were investigated to find out the wear patterns of these teeth. In this study, wear patterns in incisors, canines, and premolars were described using the medium-resolution microscope Novex Holland. In addition, the wear and mechanical processes on the occlusal molars during the chewing cycle were interpreted. The results show that types of wear such as attrition, abrasion, erosion, and fracture are present in the incisors, canines and premolars which may be caused by the different types of food consumption. The chewing cycle method presents the wear frequencies, which vary between the sites. The teeth from Yomokho, Srobu, and Mamorikotey showed a highest impact of wear in the buccal phase I that may caused by the tough types of food consumption that require a high’shearing’ process. While the teeth from Namatota and Karas sites present the highest wear in phases lingual I and II, which could be attributed to the abrasive and rougher type of food texture, the process involves power strokes of crushing and grinding.