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Some researchers posit population continuity between Late Palaeolithic hunter–gatherers of the late Pleistocene and Holocene agriculturalists from Lower (northern) Nubia, in northeast Africa. Substantial craniodental differences in these time-successive groups are suggested to result from in situ evolution. Specifically, these populations are considered a model example for subsistence-related selection worldwide in the transition to agriculture. Others question continuity, with findings indicating that the largely homogeneous Holocene populations differ significantly from late Pleistocene Lower Nubians. If the latter are representative of the local populace, post- Pleistocene discontinuity is implied. So who was ancestral to the Holocene agriculturalists? Dental morphological analyses of 18 samples (1075 individuals), including one dated to the 12th millennium BCE from Al Khiday, near the Upper Nubian border, may provide an answer. It is the first Late Palaeolithic sample (n = 55) recovered within the region in approximately 50 years. Using the Arizona State University Dental Anthropology System to record traits and multivariate statistics to estimate biological affinities, Al Khiday is comparable to several Holocene samples, yet also highly divergent from contemporaneous Lower Nubians. Thus, population continuity is indicated after all, but with late Pleistocene Upper—rather than Lower Nubians as originally suggested—assuming dental traits are adequate proxies for ancient DNA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Crown and root traits, like those in the Arizona State University Dental Anthropology System (ASUDAS), are seemingly useful as genetic proxies. However, recent studies report mixed results concerning their heritability, and ability to assess variation to the level of genomic data. The aim is to test further if such traits can approximate genetic relatedness, among continental and global samples. Materials and Methods: First, for 12 African populations, Mantel correlations were calculated between mean measure of divergence (MMD) distances from up to 36 ASUDAS traits, and FST distances from >350,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) among matched dental and genetic samples. Second, among 32 global samples, MMD and FST distances were again compared. Correlations were also calculated between them and inter‐sample geographic distances to further evaluate correspondence. Results: A close ASUDAS/SNP association, based on MMD and FST correlations, is evident, with rm‐values between.72 globally and.84 in Africa. The same is true concerning their association with geographic distances, from.68 for a 36‐trait African MMD to.77 for FST globally; one exception is FST and African geographic distances, rm = 0.49. Partial MMD/FST correlations controlling for geographic distances are strong for Africa (.78) and moderate globally (.4). Discussion Relative to prior studies, MMD/FST correlations imply greater dental and genetic correspondence; for studies allowing direct comparison, the present correlations are markedly stronger. The implication is that ASUDAS traits are reliable proxies for genetic data—a positive conclusion, meaning they can be used with or instead of genomic markers when the latter are unavailable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A bioarchaeological assessment of human skeletons provides an objective opportunity to study and understand past peoples. Crania were analysed to evaluate health and well‐being of a past Khoesan sample in southern Africa. These data were analysed temporally and spatially (coastal vs inland), and by sex and age. Cranial and dental pathology of 150 adult individuals from the Human Skeletal Collection at the University of Cape Town were assessed. Most individuals were of coastal origin, equally distributed between pre‐ and post‐2000 bp. The sample was nearly equally distributed by sex and consisted primarily of middle‐aged adults (35–50 years at time‐of‐death). Physiological stress was indicated by evidence of nutrient deficiencies and signs of metabolic stress, without significant differences by sex. Cribra orbitalia was more frequent post‐2 000 bp, and linear enamel hypoposlasias were common in those who died at younger ages. Signs of infection were observed in dental tissues as carious lesions, abscess and antemortem tooth loss. Trauma was found in 52% of the sample, 19% was antemortem, with a significant increase post‐2000 bp, 39% were caused perimortem and was significantly higher in women. Significant distributions of pathology indicate an increased stress load from 2000 bp onwards and it was higher among coastal individuals, indicating a critical period with an influx of people migrating into the region causing population displacement, forced internal migration and increased conflict at this time. Despite the seemingly high pathogen load, these individuals were resilient and living through health problems. Across this broad time‐period, the southern African Khoesan lifestyle proves to be adequate to maintain good health and longevity in their social and environmental context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intentional dental modification has been practised across Africa for the past 10,000 years; three variations have been noted: filing, chipping and evulsion. Of these, dental filing is the most prolific. Restyling of the teeth for aesthetic socio-cultural reasons is a practice with both a wide-ranging geographical trend and a broad temporal scale. This article presents the assessment of one specimen held within the Odontological Collection at the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) that displays significant reshaping: four modified maxillary incisors from one individual, reportedly from the Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which have been filed into pronounced points. Observations have been made on the impact of modifying human teeth ante-mortem, and the resultant reaction of the dental tissues to invasive reshaping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Life-history inference is an important aim of paleoprimatology, but life histories cannot be discerned directly from the fossil record. Among extant primates, the timing of many life-history attributes is correlated with the age at emergence of the first permanent molar (M1). which can therefore serve as a means to directly compare the life histories of fossil and extant species. To date, M1 emergence ages exist for only a small fraction of extant primate species and consist primarily of data from captive individuals, which may show accelerated dental eruption compared with freeliving individuals. Data on Ml emergence ages in wild great apes exist for only a single chimpanzee individual, with data for gorillas and orangutans being anecdotal. This paucity of information limits our ability to make life-history inferences using the Ml emergence ages of extinct ape and hominin species. Here we report reliable ages at Ml emergence for the orangutan, Pongo pygmaeus (4.6 y), and the gorilla, Gorilla gorilla (3.8 y), obtained from the dental histology of wild-shot individuals in museum collections. These ages and the one reported age at Ml emergence in a free-living chimpanzee of approximately 4.0 y are highly concordant with the comparative life histories of these great apes. They are also consistent with the average age at M1 emergence in relation to the timing of life-history events in modern humans, thus confirming the utility of Ml emergence ages for life-history inference and providing a basis for making reliable life-history inferences for extinct apes and hominins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study on the enamel thickness measurements of the dental arcade of humans and chimpanzees. An understanding of molar enamel thickness of African apes is provided in the article. The study incorporated previous research regarding molars leading to a result which showed that chimpanzees had lower relative enamel thickness at each tooth position and an overlap between two taxa. A trend of increasing enamel thickness from anterior to posterior teeth in humans and chimpanzees was evident in the study.

Abstract: The Atlantic slave trade moved more than 13 million Africans to American lands between the 15th and 19th centuries. Previous historical, linguistic, and social-cultural studies suggested a Western-Central Bantu African origin for the Colombian slaves; however, their precise provenance remains unclear. The present study investigates the variation of the epigenetic dental traits in the deciduous and permanent dentition and phenotypic affinities of a contemporary Afro-Colombian community (n=178) in an attempt to identify their possible African ancestors. The results of a multivariate analysis of principal components show that Afro-descendents from Guapi have strong phenotypic relationships with several Bantu-speakers groups of Western and Western-Central Africa (Sub-Saharan region), specifically from Gabon, Congo, Pygmies, Nigeria, Cameroon, Togo and Benin. In concordance with recent mtDNA studies, this research suggests a distant but important relationship between Afro-Colombians and Eastern and South-Eastern African populations. This analysis also shows a marked dental divergence with North African samples. The dental information is not very different from the cultural, linguistic and historic data; however, it is more in agreement with studies based on molecular variation. In addition, this study reveals that African-Americans from North America, Central America-Caribbean and South America have high biological variation essentially identical to their several Sub-Saharan sources. Although a microevolutionary model, based on differential rates of gene flow with Native American and European-American groups and little selective pressures influence, better explains the phenotypic variation observed, more African-American dental samples must be analyzed from a regional perspective. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Reports on the excavation of a human skeleton with evidence of dental modification from Niger, West Africa. Description of the teeth excavated from the site; Causes of teeth abrasion; Use of teeth.

Among all biological processes for determining the age of the individual, assessment of mineralization of permanent teeth is one of the most reliable. Results of dental age calculated by procedure according to Demirjian generally overestimated dental age when compared to the chronological age. Studies of specific dental methods for age estimation in children from sub-Saharan Africa are rare and evaluation of the applicability of Demirjian method from 1973 showed that dental age significantly overestimated dental age when compared to chronological age. The aim of this study was to compare the applicability of procedures by Demirjian, 1976 , Willems, 2001 and Chaillet, 2005 to estimate the age of the African children from the town of Gaborone, Botswana . The study estimated mineralization stages by Demirjian on total sample of 393 panoramic radiographs (167 boys and 226 girls) aged 5-15 years. Results comparing dental and chronological age in boys showed average overestimation of 0.17 years for the method by Chaillet, 2005 (p = 0.61), 0.33 years for the method by Willems, 2001 and the greatest overestimation of 0.57 years for the method by Demirjian, 1976. In girls, Willems, 2001 underestimated dental age by -0.02 years (p = 0.72), while Chaillet, 2005 and Demirjian, 1976 overestimated age by 0.33 years (p =0.006) and 0.67 years, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lower molars have been extensively studied in the context of hominin evolution using classic and geometric morphometric analyses, 2D and 3D approaches, evaluations of the external (outer enamel surface) and internal anatomy (dentine, pulp chamber, and radicular canals), and studies of the crown and root variation. In this study, we present a 2D geometric morphometric analysis of the crown anatomy of lower first, second, and third molars of a broad sample of hominins, including Pliocene and Lower, Middle, and Upper Pleistocene species coming from Africa, Asia, and Europe. We show that shape variability increases from first to second and third molars. While first molars tend to retain a relatively stable 5-cusped conformation throughout the hominin fossil record, second and third molars show marked distal reductions in later Homo species. This trend to distal reduction is similar to that observed in previous studies of premolars and upper second and third molars, and points to a correlated reduction of distal areas across the whole postcanine dentition. Results on lower molar variation, as well as on other postcanine teeth, show certain trends in European Pleistocene populations from the Atapuerca sites. Middle Pleistocene hominins from Sima de los Huesos show Neanderthal affinities and strong dental reduction, especially in the most distal molars. The degree of dental reduction in this population is stronger than that observed in classic Neanderthals. Homo antecessor hominins from Gran Dolina-TD6 have primitive lower teeth that contrast with their more derived upper teeth. The evolutionary implications of these dental affinities are discussed in light of recent paleogenetic studies., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Presents an abstract for the work `Enamel microstructure of early anthropoids from the Fayum of Africa,' by M.C. Maas and E.L. Simons, from the Sixty-Fourth Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists.

Presents an abstract of the study `Comparative study of the dentition of Kenyapithecus africanus and K. wickeri,' by B.R. Benefit and M.L. McCrossin. Dental morphology of Kenyapithecus africanus and K. wickeri in Africa; Analysis of premolars and molars.