Dental Health Indicators of Hunter–Gatherer Adaptation and Cultural Change in Siberia’s Cis-Baikal Angela R. Lieverse, 1 * David W. Link, 2 Vladimir Ivanovich Bazaliiskiy, 3 Olga Ivanovna Goriunova, 3 and Andzrej W. Weber 4 1 Department of Archaeology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada S7N 5B1 2 Historic Resources Management Branch, Government of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada T6G 2P8 3 Department of Archaeology and Ethnography, Irkutsk State University, Irkutsk 664003, Russia 4 Department of Anthropology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada T6G 2H4 KEY WORDS enamel hypoplasia; periodontitis; antemortem tooth loss; dental attrition; alveolar defect; caries; calculus; Middle Holocene; forager ABSTRACT This investigation of the Cis-Baikal den- tal record focuses on health and lifestyle reconstruction of the region’s mid-Holocene foragers, with particular interest in an apparent fifth millennium BC biocultural hiatus. The four cemetery populations considered re- present two distinct biological and cultural groups separated by an apparent 700-year hiatus: the late Mesolithic-early Neolithic Kitoi culture (6800–4900 BC) and the middle Neolithic-early Bronze Age Serovo–Glas- kovo cultural complex (4200–1000 BC). Research focuses on the frequency and severity of seven dental health indicators: enamel hypoplasia, caries, alveolar defects, periodontitis, antemortem tooth loss, dental calculus, and dental attrition. Together, these seven indicators provide a basis not only for better understanding mid- Holocene lifeways in the Cis-Baikal but also for inde- pendently assessing the relative effectiveness of the different adaptive strategies employed by pre- and post- hiatus peoples. Results reveal some discrepancies between the Kitoi and Serovo–Glaskovo, specifically in their relative vulnerability to physiological stress, pro- viding evidence to support previous interpretations of their distinct adaptive regimes (namely the narrower resource base and decreased mobility of the former). Results also suggest that some of the differences observed among the four sites may reflect geographical or environmental factors rather than simply cultural ones. However, despite these distinctions, the overriding trend appears to be one of general continuity, social equality, and good health among all mid-Holocene occu- pants of the Cis-Baikal, pre- and posthiatus alike. Am J Phys Anthropol 134:323–339, 2007. V V C 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc. Dental pathology—the study of disease processes (or tissue abnormality) affecting the dentition–is a valuable and commonly documented aspect of bioarchaeological investigation. Not only are teeth one of the hardest sub- stances in the human body and thus among the least susceptible to taphonomic degradation, but like skeletal tissues, they are also sensitive to environmental fluctua- tions and can reflect a wide variety of human behaviors and conditions. These include diet, nutritional adequacy, nonspecific physiological stress, oral hygiene, food prepa- ration techniques, cultural modifications (e.g., enamel fil- ing and inlay perforations), and nondietary uses of the mouth (Larsen, 1997:2–5; Ortner, 2003:589–590). Despite similarities between many of the pathological conditions affecting bone and teeth, disease expression on the latter reflects the fundamentally distinct nature of dental tissues, namely their reduced capacity to respond to pathological insults (Ortner, 2003:589–590). This is particularly true for enamel which cannot be remodeled after its formation but can be afflicted in vivo by both mechanical (e.g., trauma, attrition) and chemical (e.g., caries) processes. While teeth are thus more susceptible to disease than are most other organs (Aufderheide and Rodrı ´guez–Martı ´n, 1998:393), they also provide perma- nent records of most of the pathological conditions hav- ing plagued them. Cultural continuity in the Cis-Baikal region of Siberia (Russia) appears to have been interrupted during the fifth millennium BC. The late Mesolithic/early Neolithic Kitoi culture (6800–4900 BC) was replaced, after a 700-year hiatus, by the culturally and biologically distinct Serovo– Glaskovo cultural complex (4200–1000 BC), which spanned the middle Neolithic through early Bronze Age (Weber, 1995; Weber et al., 2002). In this study, dental remains from four middle Holocene Cis-Baikal ceme- teries are examined in order to test the hypothesis that Kitoi and Serovo–Glaskovo peoples employed different adaptive strategies associated with distinct subsistence patterns. Two of the four cemeteries represent the pre- hiatus Kitoi culture and two the posthiatus Serovo–Glas- kovo. Analyses focus on the frequency and severity of dental health indicators, both among and within the cemetery populations, in order to reconstruct health and behavior and to test for possible disparities which may reflect the varying effectiveness of different adaptive regimes. Seven dental health indicators are considered, Grant sponsors: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada’s Major Collaborative Research Initiative, Einaudi Center for International Studies (Cornell University). *Correspondence to: Angela R. Lieverse, Department of Archaeology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada S7N 5B1. E-mail: lieverse@usask.ca Received 3 December 2006; accepted 9 May 2007 DOI 10.1002/ajpa.20672 Published online 13 July 2007 in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). V V C 2007 WILEY-LISS, INC. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 134:323–339 (2007)