Frequency and chronological distribution of linear enamel hypoplasia (LEH) in the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age population from Żerniki Górne (Poland) – preliminary report

Authors

  • Jacek Tomczyk Department of Anthropology, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University, Warsaw, Poland
  • Maria Tomczyk-Gruca Private Dental Practice, Tarnowskie Góry, Poland
  • Marta Zalewska Department of Prevention of the Environmental Hazards and Allergology, Medical University of Warsaw, Poland

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.2478/v10044-012-0005-3

Keywords:

enamel hypoplasia, Żerniki Górne, Corded Ware Culture, Trzciniec Culture

Abstract

Linear enamel hypoplasia (LEH) is treated as a nonspecific indicator of stress, but even so, many authors consider it the most reliable tool stress in anthropological research. Its analysis allows the reconstruction of health related to the socio-economic status of the group. This study documents and interprets patterns of LEH in Żerniki Górne (Poland), a settlement which was functional in the Late Neolithic and the Early Bronze Age. We examined two successive cultures: the Corded Ware Culture (CWC; 3200–2300BC) and the Trzciniec Culture (TC; 1500–1300BC).

In total, there were 1486 permanent teeth (124 adult individuals). The frequency of LEH in the examined cultures shows a small rising trend. In these series from Żernik Górne, males showed a higher occurrence of LEH (16.5%) than females (13.4%). The earliest LEH appeared at similar ages at about 2.0/2.2 years and the last LEH occurred at about 4.2 years of age in both cultures. However, it is worth noting that periods associated with physiological stress were more common but not very long (four months on average) in the CWC. Longer stress periods (nine months on average) were associated with the TC.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Armelagos GJ, Barnes KC, Lin J. 1996. Disease in human evolution: the re-emergence of infectious disease in the third epidemiological transition. AnthroNotes. National Museum of Natural History Bulletin for Teachers 18(3).
View in Google Scholar

Aufderheide AC, Rodríguez-Martín C. 2008. The Cambridge encyclopedia of human paleopathology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
View in Google Scholar

Bahn P. 1992. Dictionary of archaeology. Glasgow: Harper Collins Publishers.
View in Google Scholar

Berbesque JC, Doran GH. 2008. Brief communication: physiological stress in the Florida archaic – enamel hypoplasia and patterns of developmental insult in Early North American hunter-gatherers. Am J Phys Anthropol 136:351–56.
View in Google Scholar

Boldsen JL. 2007. Early childhood stress and adult age mortality – a study of dental enamel hypoplasia in teeth Medieval Danoish village of Tirup. Am J Phys Anthropol 132:59–66.
View in Google Scholar

Bonfiglioli B, Brasili MG, Belcasreo MG. 2003. Dento-alveolar lesions and nutritional habits of a Roman Imperial age population (1st–4th c. AD): Quadrella (Molise, Italy). J Comp Hum Biol 54:36–56.
View in Google Scholar

Clayton F, Sealy J, Pfeiffer S. 2006. Weaning age among foragers at Matjes River Rock Shelter, South Africa, from stable nitrogen and carbon isotope analysis. Am J Phys Anthropol 129:311–17.
View in Google Scholar

Cucina A. 2002. Brief communication: diachronic investigation of linear enamel hypoplasia in prehistoric skeletal samples from Trentino, Italy. Am J Phys Anthropol 119:283–87.
View in Google Scholar

Eshed V, Gopher A, Pinhasi R, Hershkovitz I. 2010. Paleopathology and the origin of agriculture in the Levant. Am J Phys Anthropol 143:121–33.
View in Google Scholar

Fédération Dentaire International. 1982. An epidemiological index of developmental defects of dental enamel (DDE Index). Int Dent J 32:159–67.
View in Google Scholar

Gleń-Haduch E. 1995. Biological status analysis of the Neolithic and early Bronze Age populations from WyżynaMałopolska. In: J Schmager, editor. Prace Zakładu Antropologii Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego. Kraków: Wydawnictwo UJ. 115–39.
View in Google Scholar

Gleń-Haduch E, Szostek K, Głąb H. 1997. Cribra orbitalia and trace element content in human teeth from Neolithic and Early Bronze Age graves in southern Poland. Am J Phys Anthropol 103:201–07.
View in Google Scholar

Goodman AH, Armelagos GJ, Rose JC. 1984. The chronological distribution of enamel hypoplasia from prehistoric Dickson Mounds populations. Am J Phys Anthropol 65:259–66.
View in Google Scholar

Goodman AH, Allen LH, Hernandez GP, Amador A, Arriola LV, Chavez A, et al. 1987. Prevalence and age at development of enamel hypoplasia in Mexican children. Am J Phys Anthropol 72:7–19.
View in Google Scholar

Goodman AH, Armelagos GJ. 1988. Childhood stress and decreased longevity in a prehistoric population. Am Anthropol 90:936–44.
View in Google Scholar

Goodman AH, Rose JC. 1990. Assessment of systematic physiological perturbations from dental enamel hypoplasias and associated histological structures. Yearbook Phys Anthropol 33:59–110.
View in Google Scholar

Griffin RC, Donlon D. 2009. Patterns in dental enemel hypopasia by sex and age at death in two archaeological populations. Arch Oral Biol 54S:93–100.
View in Google Scholar

Guatelli-Steinberg D, Lukacs JR. 1999. Interpreting sex differences in enamel hypoplasia in human and non-human primates: developmental, environmental and cultural considerations. Yearbook Phys Anthropol 42:73–126.
View in Google Scholar

Guatelli-Steinberg D. 2003. Macorscopis and microscopic analyses of linear enamel hypoplasia in Plio-Pleistocene South African Hominins with respect to aspects of enamel development and morphology. Am J Phys Anthropol 120:309–22.
View in Google Scholar

Haduch E. 2002. The human biology of the Neolithic and bronze age population of Poland. In: P Bennike, E Bodzsar and C Susanne,editors. Ecological aspects of past human settlements in Europe. Budapest: Eőtvős University Press. 143–56.
View in Google Scholar

Henneberg RJ, Henneberg M. 1989. Dental caries and enamel hypoplasia in a rural population of the ancient Greek Colony of Metaponto, Italy. Am J Phys Anthropol 78:240.
View in Google Scholar

Herring DA, Sauders SR, Katzenberg MA. 1998. Investigating the weaning process in past populations. Am J Phys Anthropol 105:425–39.
View in Google Scholar

Hillson S. 2002. Dental Anthropology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
View in Google Scholar

Hillson S. 2008. Dental pathology. In: MA Katzenberg and SR Saunders, editors. Biological anthropology of the human skeleton. New Jersey: Wiley-Liss. 301–40.
View in Google Scholar

Hillson S, Bond S. 1997. Relationship of enamel hypoplasia to the pattern of tooth crown growth: a discussion. Am J Phys Anthropol 104:89–103.
View in Google Scholar

Hoyenga KB, Hoyenga KT. 1982. Gender and energy balance: sex different in adaptations for feast and famine. Physiol Behav 28:545–63.
View in Google Scholar

Jackes M. 2009. Teeth and the past in Portugal: pathology and the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition. In: T Koppe, G Mayer and KW Alt, editors. Comparative dental morphology. Basel: Krager. 167–72.
View in Google Scholar

Jankowska D. 1999. Remarks on the study of consumption in the communities of the late Band Pottery Culture (LPC) and the Corded Ware Culture inhabiting Polish territories (a comparative study). In: D Jankowska, M Krenz-Niedbała, J Piontek and J Wierzbicki, editors. Biological and cultural consequences of the transition to agriculture in Central Europe. Poznań: Wydawnictwo Naukowe UAM. 27–44.
View in Google Scholar

Kardow S, Machnik J. 1997. Kultura Mierzanowicka. Chronologia, taksonomia i rozwój przestrzenny. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Oddziału PAN.
View in Google Scholar

Katzenberg MA, Herring DD, Saunders SR. 1996. Weaning and infant mortality: evaluating the skeletal evidence. Yearbook Phys Anthropol 39:177–99.
View in Google Scholar

Keenleyside A, Panayotova K. 2006. Cribra orbitalia and porotic hyperostosis in a Greek colonialpopulation (5th to 3rd centuries BC) from the Black Sea. Int J Osteoarchaeol 16: 373–8.4.
View in Google Scholar

Kempisty A, Włodarczyk P. 1996. Chronologia absolutna cmentarzyska w Żernikach Górnych, woj. Kieleckie. In: A Kempisty and P Włodarczyk, editors. Concordia. Studia ofiarowane Jerzemu Okuliczowi-Kozarynowi w sześćdziesiątą piątą rocznicę urodzin. Warszawa: Wydawnictwa UW. 127–40.
View in Google Scholar

Köhler K, Pálfi G, Molnár E, Zalai-Gaál I, Osztás A, Bánffy E, et al. 2012. A Late Neolithic case of Pott’s disease from Hungary. Int J Osteoarchaeol doi:10.1002/oa.2254.
View in Google Scholar

King T, Humphrey LT, Hillson S. 2005. Linear enamel hypoplasias as indicators of systemic physiological stress: evidence from two know age-at-death and sex populations from postmedieval London. Am J Phys Anthropol 128:547–59.
View in Google Scholar

Krenz-Niedbała M. 1999. Morphological response to living conditions in the populations of Corded Ware Culture and Lengyel Culture. In: D Jankowska, M Krenz-Niedbała, J Piontek and J Wierzbicki, editors. Biological and cultural consequences of the transition to agriculture in Central Europe. Poznań: Wydawnictwo Naukowe UAM. 83–103.
View in Google Scholar

Krenz-Niedbała M. 2000. Biologiczne i kulturowe skutki neolityzacji w populacjach ludzkich na ziemiach polskich. Poznań: Wydawnictwo Naukowe UAM.
View in Google Scholar

Krenz-Niedbała M. 2001. Biological and cultural consequences of the transition to agriculture in human population on Polish territories. Variability and Evolution 9:89–99.
View in Google Scholar

Krenz-Niedbała M, Kozłowski T. 2011. Comparing the chronological distribution of enamel hypoplasis in Rogowo, Poland (2nd century AD) using two methods of defect timing estimation. Int J Osteoarchaeol doi: 10.1002/oa.1262.
View in Google Scholar

Kruk J. 1980. Gospodarka w Polsce Południowo-Wschodniej w V–III tysiącleciu p.n.e. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Oddziału PAN.
View in Google Scholar

Kruk J, Milisauskas S. 1999. Rozkwit i upadek społeczeństw rolniczych Neolitu. Kraków: Instytut Archeologii i Etnologii PAN.
View in Google Scholar

Kujanová M, Bigoni L, Velemińska J, Velemińsky P. 2008. Limb bones asymmetry and stress in medieval and recent populations of Central Europe. Int J Osteoarchaeol 18:476–91.
View in Google Scholar

Larsen CS. 1995. Biological changes in human populations with agriculture. Annu Rev Anthropol 24:185–213.
View in Google Scholar

Larsen CS. 2003. Bioarcheology.Interpreting behavior from the human skeleton. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
View in Google Scholar

Liebe-Harkort C. 2012. Cribra orbitalia, sinusitis and linear enamel hypoplasia in Swedish Roman Iron Age adults and subadults. Int J Osteoarchaeol 22:387–97.
View in Google Scholar

Limbo J. 2006. Dental enamel hypoplasia in the Pada cemetery (12th–13th cc.) population in north-east Estonia. P Anthropol 15:114–23.
View in Google Scholar

Liversidge HM. 2000. Crown formation times of human permanent anterior teeth. Arch O Biol 45:713–21.
View in Google Scholar

Marlowe FW. 2005. Hunter-gather and human evolution. Evol Anthropol 14:54–67.
View in Google Scholar

May RL, Goodman AH, Meindl RS. 1993. Response of bone and enamel formation to nutritional supplementation and morbidity among malnourished Guatemalan children. Am J Phys Anthropol 92:37–51.
View in Google Scholar

Molnar P, Ahlstrom TP, Leden I. 2011. Osteoarthritis and activity – an analysis of the relationship between eburnation, musculoskeletal stress markers (MSM) and age in two Neolithic hunter–gatherer populations from Gotland, Sweden. Int J Osteoarchaeol 21:283–91.
View in Google Scholar

Piontek J. 1999. Body size and proportions in the Upper Paleolithic-Neolithic transition: evidence from Central Europe. In: D Jankowska, M Krenz-Niedbała, J Piontek and J Wierzbicki, editors. Biological and cultural consequences of the transition to agriculture in Central Europe. Poznań: Wydawnictwo Naukowe UAM. 61–84.
View in Google Scholar

Piontek J, Kozłowski T. 2002. Frequency of cribra orbitalia in the subadult medieval population from Gruczno, Poland. Int J Osteoarchaeol 12:202–08.
View in Google Scholar

Piontek J, Vancata V. 2002. Transition to agriculture in Europe: evolutionary trends in body size and body shape. In: P Bennike, E Bodzsar and C Susanne, editors. Ecological aspects of past human settlements in Europe. Budapest: Eőtvős University Press. 61–92.
View in Google Scholar

Reid DJ, Dean MC. 2000. Brief communication: the timing of linear hypoplasias on human anterior teeth. Am J Phys Anthropol 113:135–39.
View in Google Scholar

Reid DJ, Dean MC. 2006. Variation in human enamel formation times. J Hum Evol 50:329–46.
View in Google Scholar

Ritzman TB, Baker BJ, Schwartz GT. 2008. A fine line: a comparison of methods for estimating ages of linear enamel hypoplasis formation. Am J Phys Anthropol 135:348–61.
View in Google Scholar

Smith BH. 1984. Patterns of molar wear in hunter-gatherers and agriculturalists. Am J Phys Anthropol 63:39–56.
View in Google Scholar

Suckling GW, Herbison GP, Brown RH. 1987. Etiological factors influencing the prevalence of developmental defects of dental enamel in nine-year-old New Zealand children participating in a health and development study. J Dent Res 66:1566–69.
View in Google Scholar

Temple DH. 2010. Patterns of systematic stress during the agricultural transition in prehistoric Japan. Am J Phys Anthropol 142:112–24.
View in Google Scholar

Tomczyk J, Sołtysiak A, Tomczyk-Gruca M. 2007. Temporal changes in frequency of enamel hypoplasia in the Middle EuphraLinear enamel hypoplasia in Żerniki Górne 73 tes Valley (Syria). In: EB Bodzsár and A Zsákai, editors. Human diversity and biocultural researches. Budapest: Plantin-Publ. & Press. 87–97.
View in Google Scholar

Tunia K. 1986. Z problematyki środowiskowych uwarunkowań gospodarki pasterskiej na terenie górskiej strefy polskich Karpat Zachodnich w czasach prahistorycznych. Acta Archaeol Carpathica 25:219–30.
View in Google Scholar

Wierzbicki J. 1999. Characteristics of the cultural-chronological position of Neolithic burial grounds at Osłonki, Złota and ŻernikiGórne. In: D Jankowska, M Krenz-Niedbała, J Piontek and J Wierzbicki, editors. Biological and cultural consequences of the transition to agriculture in Central Europe.Poznań: Wydawnictwo Naukowe UAM. 7–25.
View in Google Scholar

Wright LE. 1997. Intertooth patterns of hypoplasia expression: implications for childhood health in the Classic Maya Collapse. Am J Phys Anthropol 102:233–47.
View in Google Scholar

Villalpando S. 2001. Feeding mode, infections, and anthropometric studies in early childhood. Pediatr 106:1282–83.
View in Google Scholar

Zilberman U, Smith P, Piperno M, Condemi S. 2004. Evidence of amelogenesis imperfecta in an early African Homo erectus. J Hum Evol 46:647–53.
View in Google Scholar

Downloads

Published

2012-01-30

How to Cite

Tomczyk, J., Tomczyk-Gruca, M., & Zalewska, M. (2012). Frequency and chronological distribution of linear enamel hypoplasia (LEH) in the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age population from Żerniki Górne (Poland) – preliminary report. Anthropological Review, 75(1), 61–73. https://doi.org/10.2478/v10044-012-0005-3

Issue

Section

Articles

Most read articles by the same author(s)

1 2 > >>