Why Teeth Are Called Biological Archives by Dentists and Archaeologists
A team of researchers just published a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that reconstructed, tooth by tooth, what an entire ancient city actually ate, and even what happened before some of them were born. The city was Abu Tbeirah, in what is now southern Iraq, and the people lived there roughly 4,500 years ago.
At By The Lake Dental, our dentists and dental team think this is one of the best examples of just how much information teeth can hold, long after everything else about a person has disappeared.
A City That Should Have Eaten Fish, But Didn't
Abu Tbeirah sat near the ancient coastline, with a documented harbour and easy access to the sea. Researchers from Sapienza University of Rome expected to find seafood at the centre of the local diet. Instead, the study found the population ate mostly cereals like barley and wheat, along with land animals such as pigs, with little to no evidence of marine fish at all. It is a reminder that assumptions about what people "must have" eaten do not always hold up once the evidence is actually tested.
What Teeth Reveal Before You're Even Born
Perhaps the most striking part of the study is what it uncovered about early childhood. The composition of tooth enamel captured evidence of diet in utero, meaning what a mother consumed during pregnancy, along with how long children were breastfed before being introduced to cereals and animal milk. Researchers were also able to see that men and women appeared to have similar access to food, suggesting a fairly equitable community rather than one where resources were hoarded by a privileged few.
Reading a Record Nothing Else Could Preserve
None of this would have been possible with bone alone. The region's salty, arid soil destroys collagen, the material usually used for this kind of dietary analysis, so the researchers turned to zinc isotopes locked inside tooth enamel instead, a method that let them read individual diets where bone had already failed them. Teeth, it turns out, hold up in conditions that break down almost everything else.
It is not every day that a dental structure ends up being the most reliable witness to how a family lived thousands of years ago. Curious what your own dentist can tell from a closer look? Contact By The Lake Dental, your favourite dental office in Ajax and Scarborough, and book your appointment today.
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