Dental Anthropology - An Introduction

Abstract

Dental Anthropology provides an excellent view into biological, ecological and cultural aspects which help to detect and understand individuality, human behavior, living conditions, and environments. Teeth are used to separate fossil hominids, demonstrate trends in hominid dentition, reflect individual and group patterns of demography, biological relationships in the context of affinity and kinship, aspects of diet and cultural adaptation, and supply information on dental health, art, cult, and custom in fossil and archeological series. In forensic odontology and anthropology, they permit the identification of unknown bodies in the context of mass disasters, and the evaluation of bitemarks in corpse or objects.