An Oral Health Assessment of Coastal and Inland Early and Middle Neolithic South China and Taiwan Adam Lauer 1 , Minghui Wang 2 , Tianlong Jiao 3 , Guoping Sun 4 1 Department of Anthropology, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI, 2 Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, 3 Department of Anthropology, Bishop Musuem, Honolulu, HI, 4 Deparment of Archaeology, Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Antiquity and Archaeology Southeast China and Taiwan The southeastern coast of China stretches from Hangzhou Bay of Zhejiang Province in the north to the Leizhou Peninsula of Guangdong Province in the south. The Wuyi Mountains separate the southeast coast from the central river valleys of China. This area encompasses modern southern coastal and island Zhejiang Provence and the coastal areas and islands of modern Fujian and Guangdong and Guangxi Provinces and islands in the Taiwan Strait and the island of Taiwan. The southeast coast of China is characterized by a sub-tropical to tropical climate with a highly irregular coastline including many rivers, bays, islands, and marshes. Map: Location of the selected skeletal series, Southeast China and Taiwan Background Previous investigations of oral health and disease in Southeast Asia suggest that the prehistoric inhabitants of this region do not the exhibit the same pattern of decline as found elsewhere in the world (Pietrusewsky and Douglas, 2002). Oral health in human skeletal material ranging from Vietnam to Thailand and Cambodia maintained a low levels of oral pathologies and disease until the Iron Age or later. The relatively good oral health is due to a combination of factors, including low levels of cariogenicity of rice and a lack of marked social and subsistence changes until later in time than other parts of the world (Oxenham et al., 2006). Climatically and environmentally the southeast coast of China and Taiwan are similar to Southeast Asia. Research Questions Utilizing general oral indicators of stress in 89 Neolithic to Iron Age human skeletons from the southeast coast of China and Taiwan, this paper examines the health and lifestyle of Neolithic early rice adopters in the region though the Iron Age (c. 1000 BP). We predict that estimators of poor oral health examined in this study will be greater in the Iron Age samples than in the early and middle Neolithic samples and the inland sample will exhibit higher frequencies of oral stress indicators than those observed in the coastal samples. Materials and Methods This study examines skeletons from the early and middle Neolithic and Iron Age of Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangxi Zhuang, China, and Taiwan. The sites from the southeast Coast of China are reported here for the first time and compared to skeletons from Taiwan. All sites participated in a mixed foraging/agriculture lifeway. - Hemudu, Tianluoshan, and Tashan, Zhejiang, China (7,000-5,000 BP) N=8 - Dingsishan, Guangxi Zhuang, China (7,000-6,000 BP) N=22 - Tanshishan and Xitou, Fujian, China (5,000-4,300 BP) N=13 - Nankuanli East, Tainan, Taiwan (5,500-4,500 BP) N= 23 - Shihsanhang, Taipei, Taiwan (1,800-1,000 BP) N=23 General indicators of systematic stress examined: -Linear enamel hypoplasia (LEH) Specific indicators of stress examined: -Dental pathology (AMTL, caries, alveolar resorption, alveolar defect, calculus, attrition) Statistical tests: Fisher’s exact test and Chi-square Hemudu Dingsishan* Tanshishan Nankuanli East Shihsanhang 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 LEH Percent Linear Enamel Hypoplasia Linear enamel hypoplasia frequencies are high in coastal samples throughout the Neolithic and Iron Age. Frequencies for the inland/riverine Dingsishan sample are significantly lower than those on the coast but may be artificially low due to different tooth wear patterns. This pattern suggests higher levels of generalized childhood stress in the later Neolithic and Iron Age and generally high levels of childhood stress. Other oral health indicators suggest the high levels of LEH maybe be due to periods of poor nutrition. Hemudu DSS TSS NKLE SSH 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 AMTL Percent Antemortem Tooth Loss Hemudu DSS* TSS NKLE SSH* 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Caries Percent Caries Antemortem tooth loss (AMTL) frequencies are low. Significant differences in AMTL are found between the southeast coast and inland/riverine environments of China, and the contemporaneous and later coast of Taiwan. A similar, but less significant, pattern is found in caries rates. The Tanshishan middle Neolithic coastal sample has significantly higher rates of caries than earlier coastal or inland skeletal series, as well as significantly higher rates than the contemporaneous and later skeletal series on Taiwan. Dental caries rates are also statistically lower in the Iron Age than early inland/riverine Neolithic. Both the antemortem tooth loss rate and the caries rates are higher in the middle Neolithic coastal sample suggesting a more cariogenic diet in the Tanshishan sample. Above: crown caries Antemortem tooth loss and tooth ablation Hemudu Dingsisha n Tanshishan Nankuanli East Shihsanhang 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 Alveolar Resorption Percent Alveolar Resorption Hemudu Dingsishan Tanshishan Nankuanli East Shihsanhang 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 Alveolar Defect Percent Alveolar Defect Significant differences in alveolar resorption exist between the southeast China skeletal series and those from Taiwan. The Iron Age Shihsanhang sample has significantly more alveolar resorption than the earlier Nankuanli East skeletal sample. The are no significant differences in frequencies of alveolar defects. Higher levels of dental pathologies on the southeast coast of China suggest a higher rate of infection that may be related to the high levels childhood stress in these samples. Humudu Dingsishan Tanshishan Nankuanli East Shihsanhang 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 Calculus Percent Calculus Hemudu Dingsishan Tanshishan Nankuanli East Shihsanhan 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 Attrition Percent Attrition Levels of medium and marked calculus are significantly higher in the early Neolithic Dingsishan inland/riverine sample and the Iron Age coastal/estuary Shihsanhang sample than in any of the coastal Neolithic samples. A similar anomalous frequency is recorded in the attrition levels with Dingsishan exhibiting significantly higher levels than the contemporaneous Hemudu sample. All the southeast China samples exhibit significantly lower levels of attrition than the Taiwanese samples and the Iron Age exhibits significantly less attrition than the Neolithic. The Dingsishan attrition levels are likely from some form of use as a tool as the wear is significantly more common on the anterior teeth, and those teeth exhibit labial wear. Discussion/Conclusions Although preservation and sample size issues require these results to be interpreted with caution, this study provided evidence for differences in health and lifestyle in southeast China and Taiwan. Health and lifestyle differences between the southeast coast of China and the inland/riverine area of Guangxi Zhuang, and differences between the southeast coast of China and Taiwan suggest this area cannot be examined as a whole. Observed difference may be attributed to access and utilization of marine resources, differences in diet, and differing levels of reliance on domesticates. On the southeast coast of China the middle Neolithic Tanshishan sample exhibits higher frequencies of indicators of stress and oral infections suggesting an increased reliance on carbohydrates. Oral health indicators from the island of Taiwan suggest a foraging and broad spectrum resource utilization, supplemented by rice and millet agriculture, continued until at least the Iron Age with very little decrease in oral health. The inland/riverine Dingsishan sample exhibits similar levels of oral health as the coast but calculus and attrition levels suggest a different diet and alternative methods of resource utilization. This study is small and preliminary in nature but suggests the southeast coast of China and Taiwan are not operating as a unit. Increasing numbers of human skeletons with controlled temporal provenience will enable further investigations of changes over time within and between the southeast coast of China and mainland and island Southeast Asia. References Cited Oxenham, M., Nguyen L.C., Nguyen KT. 2006. The oral health consequences of the adoption and intensification of agriculture in Southeast Asia. In Oxenham M. and N. Tayles (eds.) Bioarchaeology of Southeast Asia. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge. Pietrusewsky, M., M.T. Douglas. 2002. Ban Chiang, A Prehistoric Village Site In Northeast Thailand I: The Human Skeletal Remains. University Museum Monograph 111. The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology: Philadelphia. Acknowledgements - This research was funded in part by NSF/NSC (US/Taiwan) funds - Dr. Jiang Leping, Tashan Site, Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Antiquity and Archaeology provided access to the Tashan skeletal materials - Anthropology Department, UHM provided travel funds for A.L. to attend AAPA meetings in Portland, Oregon