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Multidisciplinary perspectives on the study of ancient diet and oral health. A case study from the central region of Argentina

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Abstract

This study represents the first comprehensive analysis of the oral cavity of a late initial Holocene period individual from the Central Highlands of Córdoba, Argentina. We employed an innovative, multidisciplinary suite of methods that combine macroscopic dental analysis, cone beam computed tomography, vegetable microremains, and genetic data to the study of the oral health and diet of the past populations from the Central Highlands. Results indicate that this individual presented severe dental wear, a high amount of dental tartar, periapical lesions, and caries. Silicophytoliths and starch grains were identified, demonstrating the consumption and/or manipulation of wild plants. Finally, by applying paleogenetic techniques, we could confirm the presence of the bacterium Streptococcus mutans in this individual, and therefore more broadly, in ancient samples from Argentina. We additionally identified the presence of a second bacterium, Fusobacterium nucleatum.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción (CICYTTP-CONICET- Diamante, Entre Ríos, Argentina), especially Eliana Moya, for their support and collaboration. We would like to thank Marcos Salvatore for the map, and to Carolina Mosconi and Graciela Cabana for English proofreading. The authors are solely responsible for the ideas expressed in this work.

Funding

This work was supported by the following grants: FONCyT PICT 2015-3155, MinCyT Córdoba PID 2018-79, and SeCyT-UNC 2016-2018. PUE 2016 CONICET.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Antropología de Córdoba (Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas) and Museo de Antropología (Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades,Universidad Nacional de Córdoba), Universidad Nacional de Córdoba (UNC), Av. Hipólito Yrigoyen 174(5000), Córdoba, Argentina

    Aldana Tavarone, Darío Alejandro Ramírez, Claudina González, Rodrigo Nores & Mariana Fabra

  2. Laboratorio de Arqueologia, Centro de Investigación Científica y de Transferencia Tecnológica a la Producción CICYTTP (CONICET-Prov. Entre Ríos-UADER), España 149 (E3105BWA), Diamante, Entre Ríos, Argentina

    María de los Milagros Colobig

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  1. Aldana Tavarone
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  2. Darío Alejandro Ramírez
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  3. Claudina González
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  4. María de los Milagros Colobig
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  5. Rodrigo Nores
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  6. Mariana Fabra
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Correspondence to Claudina González.

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Tavarone, A., Ramírez, D., González, C. et al. Multidisciplinary perspectives on the study of ancient diet and oral health. A case study from the central region of Argentina. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 12, 47 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-019-00965-7

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