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Objectives: Carabelli is a nonmetric dental trait variably expressed as a small pit to a prominent cusp in the maxillary molars of modern humans. Investigations on the occurrence and expression rates of this trait have been conducted extensively, tracing its origin to genetic sources. However, there remains a lack of understanding about its potential role in chewing. In this study, we examine molar macrowear with the aim of reconstructing Carabelli trait occlusal dynamics occurring during chewing., Methods: We have examined 96 deciduous and permanent maxillary molars of children and young adults from Yuendumu, an Australian Aboriginal population that was at an early stage of transition from a nomadic and hunter-gatherer way of life to a more settled existence. We apply a well-established method, called Occlusal Fingerprint Analysis, which is a digital approach for analyzing dental macrowear allowing the reconstruction of jaw movements required to produce wear pattern specific to each tooth., Results: Carabelli trait slightly enlarges the surface functional area, especially in those molars where this feature is expressed in its cuspal form and it is closer to the occlusal plane. Moreover, the highly steep contact planes would also indicate that Carabelli wear areas contribute to increasing the shearing abilities of the occluded teeth, which are particularly important when processing fibrous and tough foods., Conclusions: The macrowear analysis suggests that Carabelli trait in the Aboriginal people from Yuendumu slightly enhanced occlusion and probably played some functional role during mastication. Future biomechanical and microwear analyses could provide additional information on the mechanical adaptation of Carabelli trait in modern human dentition., (© 2020 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Tooth avulsion is the intentional removal of one or more teeth for ritual or aesthetic reasons, or to denote group affiliation. Typically the maxillary incisors are the teeth most often selected for removal. Previous authors have discussed the presence of tooth avulsions in several individuals recovered from Roonka, but those papers did not examine any patterns in those removals that might be present. Analysis of the tooth avulsions at Roonka reveals a change in the practice over time, with the older burials from phase II typically showing removal of both maxillary central incisors with a left side bias when only one tooth is removed, and the more recent phase III burials showing only one incisor avulsed and a right side bias for removal. Frequencies in the practice also changed over time, with avulsions being much more common in the older phase II burials. Historical evidence suggests that any particular regional or social group would have its own particular pattern of tooth avulsion, so these changes in tooth avulsions at Roonka suggest that the site was either used by multiple groups of people for burials, or that there was significant cultural change during the occupation of the site., (© 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Morphological variations of the deciduous dentition are as useful as those of the permanent dentition for determining the biological affinities of human populations. This paper provides material on morphological variations of deciduous teeth of the prehistoric Japanese population from the Late and the Latest Jomon Period (ca. 2000-ca. 300 B.C.). The expression of nonmetric traits of the deciduous teeth in the Jomon sample shows a closer affinity with modern Japanese and Native American samples than with American White, Asiatic Indian, and African samples. However, the frequency of shoveling in deciduous upper incisors in the Jomon sample is lower than those in modern Japanese and Native American samples. The Jomon sample also expresses a much higher frequency of cusp 6 in deciduous lower second molars than seen in modern Japanese, Ainu, and Native American samples. The frequency in the Jomon sample is equal to that in the Australian Aboriginal sample, which shows cusp 6 most frequently among the samples compared. A somewhat low incidence of incisor shoveling in the Jomon sample was also reported in the permanent dentition (Turner [1976] Science 193:911-913, [1979] Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 51:619-635, [1987] Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 73:305-321, [1990] Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 82:295-317; T. Hanihara [1992] Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 88:163-182, 88:183-196). However, the frequency of cusp 6 in the Jomon sample shows no significant difference from those of Northeast Asian or Native American samples in the permanent dentition (Turner [1987] Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 73:305-321; T. Hanihara [1992] Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 88:163-182, 88:183-196). Evidently, some nonmetric traits express an inter-group difference only in the deciduous dentition.

This paper describes the cranial thickening of a late Pleistocene hominid (Willandra Lakes Hominid 50) from Australia. The unusual development of the vault structures in this individual has few, if any, equals among other hominids or more recent populations from around the world. The vault morphology is, therefore, described in terms of a pathologically related condition associated with the modern haemolytic blood dyscrasias, typical of sickle cell anamia and thalassemia. A possible palaeoepidemiology for these genetic adaptations among early Australasian populations is proposed together with a discussion of similar changes observed in the vault of the Singa calvarium from the Sudan. It is tentatively suggested that the cranial thickening of the Australian hominid has its origins in some form of genetic blood disease and that if this diagnosis is correct, this individual provides a rare glimpse of human biological adaptation in the late Upper Pleistocene.

This paper discusses an as yet undescribed lesion of the orbit in Australian Aboriginal skeletal populations. The rather high frequency and geographical distribution of the lesion suggests an association with a common, chronic eye infection. Using differential diagnosis to eliminate a variety of ophthalmic conditions, it is proposed that chronic trachoma may be a possible causative agent. Distribution of the lesion follows that of trachoma among contemporary Aboriginal people, with the highest frequencies occurring in the hotter, arid portions of the Australian continent. It is positively correlated with age, with higher frequencies in older people; it is almost completely absent among sub-adults. The antiquity of the lesion is demonstrated by its appearance among late Pleistocene human remains.

Cranial surgery has been performed for thousands of years among a wide range of cultures. Although the extent of its use has varied, ethnographically the operation has almost always been used as a form of medical treatment following cranial trauma or as a remedy for head pain. This paper describes two cases of cranial trauma on Australian Aboriginal remains from widely separated areas of the continent. The position and morphology of the trauma, as well as other associated features, suggest that these individuals underwent some form of surgical procedure. The features are similar to those found on accepted cases of trephination from elsewhere. If these individuals did undergo some sort of trephination, they are the first to be reported from Australia. Confirmation of the diagnosis would also increase our understanding of the geographical range of the technique in this part of Oceania, which was known previously only from parts of Melanesia.