NON-METRIC VARIATION OF THE LOWER SECOND MOLAR (M2) IN THE 17TH CENTURY HUMAN POPULATION FROM IAŞI CITY (ROMANIA).

The present paper aims at assessing the frequency of dental non-metric traits in the 17th century population of Iaşicity (Romania). The analysed sample consists of 73 lower (mandibular) second molars (M2), and the evaluated non-metric characters are based on the criteria of Arizona State University Dental Anthropology System (ASUDAS). Considering the degree of the teeth wear, only the following non-metric traits were analysed: anterior fovea, groove patterns, cusp numbers and hypoconulid. The most common occlusal morphology in the analysed sample of mandibular second molar shave a pattern with four cusps and "+" groove. The fifth cusp is represented by large size hypoconulid and it is present in only 9.72% of the sample. The anterior fovea is present mostly in 41.1% of the dental sample; it has a large variability, dominating the molars with a weak ridge that connects the mesial faces of protoconid and metaconid cusps (score 1). This study is a preliminary one, and the analysis of non-metric characters will be extended to other archaeological human populations from Romania. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]