Kathryn M Domett

Agriculture and dental caries? The case of rice in prehistoric Southeast Asia.

The agricultural transition has long been recognized to have been a very important period in human prehistory. Its timing and consequences, including the effects on human health, have been intensively researched. In recent decades, this has included the idea that there is a universal positive correlation between the adoption of agriculture based on a carbohydrate staple crop and dental caries prevalence. This is mainly based on evidence from America, where maize was the staple crop. On the basis of evidence from prehistoric skeletal samples from a series of prehistoric sites in Southeast Asia, this correlation does not appear to apply in areas of the world where the staple crop is rice. Although we have looked only at dental caries, we suggest that caution be applied in the drawing of inferences about subsistence changes from dental health. Patterns reflecting the adoption of one starchy staple are not necessarily applicable to all such crops.

Health in Pre-Angkorian Cambodia: A Bioarchaeological Analysis of the Skeletal Remains from Phum Snay

Excavations at a pre-Angkorian (c. 350 B.C.–A.D. 200) cemetery in the village of Phum Snay, Northwest Cambodia, have revealed 23 inhumations. This small sample of skeletal remains varies in completeness from a scatter of bone to complete articulated skeletons with an array of grave goods including bronze and iron artifacts. There is archaeological evidence for a possible militarized society, but the overall health of this small cemetery population does not provide further conclusive evidence. Demographically, the skeletal sample lacks many subadults and older adults and is skewed 2 : 1 toward females, but this is probably a result of poor preservation and sample size rather than any true bias in cemetery organization. Stature in both males and females is wide ranging and may indicate a heterogeneous sample either in terms of genetics or access to resources. Dental health shows evidence for sexual differentiation in diet, with females showing more caries and less advanced attrition than males, perhaps reflecting a sexual division of labor. There is also a very high proportion of adults, both male and female, with intentional ablation of the anterior dentition, most commonly involving the upper lateral incisors and upper canines. Apart from some cases of moderate joint degeneration and minor fracture (hand and clavicle), there is very little evidence for significant disease or trauma. Overall, evidence from this small sample is suggestive of a relatively healthy lifestyle but with some indicators of a non-egalitarian social structure.

Bioarchaeological evidence for conflict in Iron Age north-west Cambodia

Examination of skeletal material from graves at Phum Snay in north-west Cambodia revealed an exceptionally high number of injuries, especially to the head, likely to have been caused by interpersonal violence. The graves also contain a quantity of swords and other offensive weapons used in conflict. The authors propose a context for these warriors in the struggle between emergent polities in the Iron Age before the domination of Angkor.

Dental health in Iron Age Cambodia: temporal variations with rice agriculture.

The dental health of two Cambodian Iron Age (500 BC to 500 AD) communities is interpreted through an analysis of advanced wear, caries, periapical lesions, and antemortem tooth loss (AMTL). The two communities, Phum Snay and Phum Sophy, just 40km apart, are temporally situated at a time of significant socio-political change prior to the establishment of Angkorian state rule. Dental pathology frequencies are compared between the two communities and with other prehistoric sites throughout Southeast Asia to determine whether dental health was affected by socio-political changes and the intensification of rice agriculture that also occurred at this time. The people of Snay and Sophy, despite their proximity, were found to exhibit significant differences in dental health. When subdivided by age and sex, Sophy older age class teeth had significantly more advanced wear, and older females had more periapical lesions, while the Phum Snay older age dentitions had significantly more AMTL. Caries rates were similar between the samples. When compared in the broader context of the Iron Age in prehistoric Southeast Asia, both Phum Snay and Phum Sophy suggest a trend of declining dental health during the period prior to the rise of the Angkorian state.

Between foraging and farming: strategic responses to the Holocene Thermal Maximum in Southeast Asia

Large, ‘complex’ pre-Neolithic hunter-gatherer communities thrived in southern China and northern Vietnam, contemporaneous with the expansion of farming. Research at Con Co Ngua in Vietnam suggests that such hunter-gatherer populations shared characteristics with early farming communities: high disease loads, pottery, complex mortuary practices and access to stable sources of carbohydrates and protein. The substantive difference was in the use of domesticated plants and animals—effectively representing alternative responses to optimal climatic conditions. The work here suggests that the supposed correlation between farming and a decline in health may need to be reassessed.

Ban Wang Hai: Excavations of an Iron-Age Cemetery in Northern Thailand (review)

The excavation of Ban Wang Hai, Northern Thailand, began in 1996, as part of a Thai-French collaboration titled ‘‘The Thai-French Prehistoric Research Project’’ that had been initiated in 1985 to study the Paleolithic period through to the Iron Age in the upper northern regions of Thailand. The excavation of Ban Wang Hai in Lamphun Province described in this monograph represents the Iron Age period. This monograph, previously published in French, provides details of the excavation as well as the analysis of the artifacts and the human remains that followed. Contributions from other specialists, such as metallurgists and jewelry analysts, are inserted as appropriate. There are many good-quality color photographs and drawings that significantly enhance the text, although figures are not always in numerical order. A significant addition, which accounts for half of the monograph, is the translation to Thai. Not only is this appropriate, considering that the work defines Thai prehistory, it also makes this work more accessible to Thai archaeologists. Details of the history of excavation at the site of Ban Wang Hai and descriptions of the Thai-French team excavations are provided after a brief introduction. Archaeological details of stratigraphy are described along with a brief mention of the palynological analysis undertaken and an even briefer comment on the only archaeometrical date from the site—that of a burnt bone sample with calibrated dates of 429–657 c.e. The human skeletal remains are discussed in some detail regarding the way in which they were buried and the taphonomic processes that have occurred since, so-called ‘‘field anthropology.’’ This, along with other evidence, has led the authors to suggest that some people were interred in coffins. A valuable addition to the discussion of the people would be that of demographics, pathology, and morphology. Only brief comments are provided but acknowledgment is made that this analysis was severely limited by a requirement by the Thai Fine Arts Department that the human remains not be removed from the ground. This is unfortunate as biological anthropology studies can make a significant contribution to the description of prehistoric life as has been shown for such sites as Ban Chiang (M. Pietrusewsky and M. T. Douglas, Ban Chiang, a Prehistoric Village Site in Northeast Thailand. I: The Human Skeletal Remains [Philadelphia: Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, 2002]) and Khok Phanom Di (N. Tayles, The Excavation of Khok Phanom Di, a Prehistoric Site in Central Thailand. Vol. 5: The People, Research Report 61 [London: Society of Antiquaries of London, 1999]). Some descriptions are presented for dental health and some notes of a few skeletal pathologies are provided, but this type of information limits its comparability with other skeletal collections. Considerable detail is provided regarding the funerary deposits, all of which were able to be fully excavated. Burial jars from this site are discussed with good photographs provided. The contents of the large burial jars has not been confirmed but burnt bone is a possibility. Burial jars from other sites typically contain human skeletal material either from primary or secondary burial. While burial jars are not uncommon in Southeast Asia, the authors suggest the Ban Wang Hai jars do not have any exact parallels. They also suggest that ‘‘In Thai cemeteries, the use of burial jars does not seem to have appeared before the second asian perspectives . 44(2) . fall 2005 398