Rita Vargiu

Dental anthropology of central-southern, iron age Italy: The evidence of metric versus nonmetric traits

Discrete and metric dental traits are used to assess biological similarities and differences among 13 bioarchaeological populations located on each side of the Apennine mountains in central-southern Italy and dated to the first millennium BC. An initial hypothesis, that the mountain chain might provide a significant geographical barrier for population movement (resulting in greater biological affinities among those groups on the same side), is not supported. Instead, the samples appear to cluster more on the basis of time than geography. Archaeological evidence, however, supports an association between populations on opposite sides of the mountains and thus is in accord with the dental data. As anticipated, discrete dental traits appear to be more useful than metric dental traits in assessing such population affinities. This research represents a beginning to a better comprehension of the complexity of the biological and cultural dynamics of Italian populations during recent millennia.

Dental evidence of biological affinity and environmental conditions in prehistoric Trentino (Italy) samples from the Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age

The use of teeth in anthropological analyses has always provided valuable information on the subsistence patterns of human communities, as well as the biological relationships among them. The present study analyses the permanent dentition of several diachronically continuing samples from the Trentino alpine region of Italy from the Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age. The study of both metric and non-metric dental traits show a strong level of homogeneity from the earlier to the later samples, indicating little external biological influence from surrounding areas. However, the evidence of oral pathology and linear enamel hypoplasia highlights a trend of increase in defects, particularly between the Neolithic and the Copper Age. This has been ascribed to a shift towards more intense agricultural activities and pastoralism, that led to a change in diet and to an increased sedentism. Copyright

Italian populations during the copper age: Assessment of biological affinities through morphological dental traits

Abstract The Copper Age (3rd millennium BC) was characterized by considerable socioeconomic transformations and coincided with the discovery of metallurgy. In this study we reconstruct the peopling of Italy during this period on the basis of dental morphology traits. Dental remains from 41 sites throughout Italy were analyzed; only three of the sites (Laterza and two from Sicily) span from the late Copper Age to the early Bronze Age. To work with adequate samples, we pooled the collections into nine geographically and culturally homogeneous groups. Dental morphological traits were scored on 8,891 teeth from 1,302 individuals using the ASUDAS scale. The correlation between the mean measure of divergence and geographic distances (calculated as air distances) was computed. Multidimensional scaling with the minimum spanning tree and maximum-likelihood methods was applied to assess the relationships between groups. The results revealed a substantial genetic homogeneity among the populations throughout the Italian peninsula during the Copper Age with the exception of Sardinia, which tends to diverge from the continental samples. Phenetic and geographic distances correlate highly significantly only when the southern samples from Sicily and Laterza are removed from the analysis, which indicates that these groups may have experienced genetic admixture with external populations.

Neural network analysis by using the Self-Organizing Maps (SOMs) applied to human fossil dental morphology: A new methodology

Recent studies focusing on dental morphology of extinct and extant human populations have shown, on a global scale, the considerable potential of dental traits as a tool to understand the phenetic relations existing between populations. The aim of this paper is to analyze the dental morphologic relationships between archaic Homo and anatomically modern Homo sapiens by means of a new methodology derived from artificial neural networks called Self Organizing Maps (SOMs). The graph obtained by SOMs to some extent recalls a classical Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) or a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) plot. The most important advantages of SOMs is that they can handle vectors with missing components without interpolating missing data. The analyzed database consisted of 1055 Lower-Middle and (Early) Late Pleistocene specimens, which were scored by using dental morphological traits of the Arizona State University Dental Anthropology System (ASUDAS). The principal result indicates a close relationship between the Homo erectus s.l. and Middle Pleistocene specimens and the later Neandertal groups. Furthermore, the dental models of anatomically modern Homo sapiens are particularly different compared to the more archaic populations. Thus, SOMs can be considered a valuable tool in the field of dental morphological studies since they enable the analysis of samples at an individual level without any need i) to interpolate missing data or ii) place individuals in predetermined groups.