Nutritional Stress & Early Development in the Neolithic Near East: A Comparison of Adult and Subadult Tooth Size

The transition from hunting and gathering to farming during the Neolithic Revolution in the Near East came with a diet that relied heavily on domesticated crops. This change in diet could lead to a reliance on lower nutritional quality foods compared to the hunter-gatherer diet. Such a decline in nutritional quality could lead to an increase in nutritional stress among early agriculturalists. Stress could occur at various stages along the life course and could be related to the mother-infant dyad. Stress can be recorded in the dentition that form in utero and throughout infancy, childhood, and adolescence. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate size of the dentition of adults and subadults to evaluate potential changes in stress during the Neolithic in relation to diet. A comparison of adult and subadult teeth was performed between the populations of Çatalhöyük and Aşıklı Höyük, along with a comparison of mean tooth size between the populations of Çatalhöyük, Aşıklı Höyük, Boncuklu Höyük, and Tepecik-Çiftlik. Dietary isotopes were evaluated to identify any possible nutritional deficiencies that potentially caused a delay in enamel formation during early infancy. Results indicate Nevalı Çori and Çayönü Tepesi had the lowest meat consumption than more recent Neolithic Near East populations, indicating a gradual increase of animal protein consumption throughout the Neolithic period within the region. Canine size among subadults at Aşıklı Höyük was smaller than adults which could indicate maternal and infant stress. Overall Çatalhöyük mean tooth size was smaller than that of any other Neolithic site for which data were available. Smaller tooth size observed at Çatalhöyük may be due to experienced stress or could be related to dental wear.

Level thesis:degree_level

Master's Degree

Year dc:date.issued

2023

Author dc:creator

• Baeza, Ashley Nicole

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Pilloud, Marin A

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Scott, George R
• Frese, Steven

• Bioarchaeology
• Crown Size
• DOHaD
• Neolithic
• Nutritional Stress
• Tooth Size

Statement dc:rights

• Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 United States

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11714/8517

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarwolf.unr.edu:11714/8517