Hostname: page-component-7b9c58cd5d-dkgms Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-03-14T21:34:08.828Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

DENTAL MODIFICATION IN THE POSTCLASSIC POPULATION FROM LAMANAI, BELIZE

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 June 2006

Jocelyn S. Williams  and
Christine D. White
Jocelyn S. Williams
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Social Science Centre, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, N6A 5C2, Canada
Christine D. White
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Social Science Centre, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, N6A 5C2, Canada
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Dental modification, present in 36% of the adult burial sample (N = 61) dating to the Postclassic period at Lamanai, Belize, was analyzed to determine its association with status and sex using both biological dietary indicators (stable-isotope and dental-pathology data) and archaeological indicators (grave location and architecture). There was no association between diet and modification. Males and females shared many of the same modification types, but some were sex-distinctive. The frequency of modification differed by archaeological context. For example, modification was present only in individuals buried in ceremonial structures, presumed to represent high status. Types of modification differed between Belizean sites and those from other regions. These data support the hypothesis that dental modification may have been a means of identification with a lineage, polity, ruler, or region.

Type
Research Article
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 17 , Issue 1 , January 2006 , pp. 139 - 151
Copyright
© 2006 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Baer, P.N., R.M. Stephen, and C.L. White 1961 Studies on Experimental Calculus Formation in the Rat, I. Effects of Age, Sex, Strain, High Carbohydrate, High Protein Diet. Journal of Periodontology 32:190–196.Google Scholar
Bass, William M. 1984 Human Osteology: A Laboratory and Field Manual. Missouri Archaeological Society, Columbia.
Becker, Marshall J. 1973 Archaeological Evidence for Occupational Specialization among the Classic Period Maya at Tikal, Guatemala. American Antiquity 38:396–406.Google Scholar
Bender, Margaret M. 1971 Variations in the C-13/C-12 Ratios of Plants in Relation to the Pathway of Photosynthetic Carbon Dioxide Fixation. Phytochemistry 10:1239–1244.Google Scholar
Blom, Deborah E., Benedikt Hallgímsson, Linda Keng, María C. Lozada C., and Jane E. Buikstra. 1998 Tiwanaku “Colonization”: Bioarchaeological Implications for Migration in the Moquegua Valley, Peru. World Archaeology 30:238–261.Google Scholar
Bogin, Barry, Maureen Wall, and Robert B. MacVean 1992 Longitudinal Analysis of Adolescent Growth of Ladino and Mayan School Children in Guatemala: Effects of Environment and Sex. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 89:441–446.Google Scholar
Bowen, W.H., and S.K. Pearson 1993 Effect of Milk on Cariogenesis. Caries Research 27:461–466.Google Scholar
Bryant, Carol A., Anita Courtney, Barbara A. Markesbery, and Kathleen M. DeWalt. 1985 The Cultural Feast: An Introduction to Food and Society. B. West Publishing Co., New York.
Caceres, Eduardo 1938 La ontologia en la era Precolumbina. In Historic de la odontología en Guatemala, edited by Eduardo Caceres, pp. 15–24. Tipographia Nacional, Guatemala.
Chase, Arlen F. 1992 Elites and the Changing Organization of Classic Maya Society. In Mesoamerican Elites: An Archaeological Assessment, edited by Diane Z. Chase and Arlen F. Chase, pp. 31–49. University of Oklahoma Press, Oklahoma City.
Chase, Arlen F., and Diane Z. Chase 1992 Mesoamerican Elites: Assumptions, Definitions, and Models. In Mesoamerican Elites: An Archaeological Assessment, edited by Diane Z. Chase and Arlen F. Chase, pp. 3–17. University of Oklahoma Press, Oklahoma City.
Chase, Diane Z. 1992 Postclassic Maya Elites: Ethnohistory and Archaeology. In Mesoamerican Elites: An Archaeological Assessment, edited by Diane Z. Chase and Arlen F. Chase, pp. 118–134. University of Oklahoma Press, Oklahoma City.
Chisholm, Brian S., D. Erle Nelson, and Henry P. Schwarcz 1983 Marine and Terrestrial Protein in Prehistoric Diets on the British Columbia Coast. Current Anthropology 24:396–398.Google Scholar
Coe, William R. 1959 Piedras Negras Archaeology: Artifacts, Caches and Burials. University Museum Monographs. University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
Costa, R.L. 1980 Incidence of Caries and Abscesses in Archaeological Eskimo Skeletal Samples from Point Hope and Kodiak Island, Alaska. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 52:501–514.Google Scholar
Coyston, Shannon, Christine D. White, and Henry P. Schwarcz 1999 Dietary Carbonate Analysis of Bone and Enamel for Two Sites in Belize. In Reconstructing Ancient Maya Diet, edited by Christine D. White, pp. 221–243. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.
Danforth, Mary E. 1999 Coming Up Short: Stature and Nutrition among the Ancient Maya of the Southern Lowlands. In Reconstructing Ancient Maya Diet, edited by Christine D. White, pp. 103–117. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.
Deines, Peter 1980 The Isotopic Composition of Reduced Organic Carbon. In Handbook of Environmental Isotope Geochemistry, edited by Peter Fritz and Jean-Charles Fontes, pp. 329–406. Elsevier, Amsterdam.
DeNiro, Michael J. 1987 Stable Isotopy and Archaeology. American Scientist 75:182–191.Google Scholar
DeNiro, Michael J., and Samuel Epstein 1978 Influence of Diet on the Distribution of Carbon Isotopes in Animals. Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta 42:495–506.Google Scholar
DeNiro, Michael J., and Samuel Epstein 1981 Influence of Diet on the Distribution of Nitrogen Isotopes in Animals. Geochimica et Cosmichimica Acta 45:341–351.Google Scholar
Evans, David T. 1973 A Preliminary Evaluation of Tooth Tartar among the Preconquest Maya of the Tayasal Area, El Peten, Guatemala. American Antiquity 38:489–493.Google Scholar
Fastlicht, Samuel 1948 Tooth Mutilations in Pre-Columbian Mexico. Journal of the American Dental Association 36:315–323.Google Scholar
Fastlicht, Samuel 1962 Dental Inlays and Filings among the Ancient Mayas. Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences 17:393–401.Google Scholar
Fastlicht, Samuel, and Javier Romero 1951 El arte de las mutilaciones dentarias. Ediciones Mexicanas, Mexico.
Flannery, Kent V. 1983 The Legacy of the Early Urban Period: An Ethnohistoric Approach to Monte Alban's Temples, Residences and Royal Tombs. In The Cloud People: Divergent Evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec Civilizations, edited by Kent V. Flannery and Joyce Marcus, pp. 290–295. Academic Press, New York.
Gertzen, Peter C. 1993 An Investigation into the Practice of Cranial Deformation among the Pre-Columbian Peoples of Northern Chile. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 3:87–98.Google Scholar
Gwinnett, A.J., and L. Gorelick 1979 Inlayed Teeth of the Ancient Mayans: A Tribological Study using the SEM. Scanning Electron Microscopy 3:575–580.Google Scholar
Haviland, William A. 1967 Stature at Tikal, Guatemala: Implications for Ancient Maya Demography and Social Organization. American Antiquity 32:317–325.Google Scholar
Haviland, William A., and Hattula Moholy-Nagy 1992 Distinguishing the High and Mighty from the Hoi Polloi at Tikal, Guatemala. In Mesoamerican Elites: An Archaeological Assessment, edited by Diane Z. Chase and Arlen F. Chase, pp. 50–60. University of Oklahoma Press, Oklahoma City.
Havill, Lorena M., Diane M. Warren, Keith P. Jacobi, Karen D. Gettelman, Della C. Cook, and K. Anne Pyburn 1997 Late Classic Tooth Filing at Chau Hiix and Tipu, Belize. In Bones of the Maya: Studies of Ancient Skeletons, edited by Stephen L. Whittington and David M. Reed, pp. 89–104. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC.
Hayden, Brian 1990 Nimrods, Piscators, Pluckers, and Planters: The Emergence of Food Production. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 9:31–69.Google Scholar
Hillson, Simon W. 1979 Diet and Dental Disease. World Archaeology 2:147–162.Google Scholar
Hillson, Simon W. 1996 Dental Anthropology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Joyce, Rosemary A. 2000 Gender and Power in Prehispanic Mesoamerica. University of Texas Press, Austin.
Joyce, Thomas A. 1914 Mexican Archaeology: An Introduction to the Archaeology of the Mexican and Mayan Civilizations of Pre-Spanish America. Philip Warner, London.
Katzenberg, M. Anne, and Roman G. Harrison 1997 What's in a Bone? Recent Advances in Archaeological Bone Chemistry. Journal of Archaeological Research 5(3):265–293.Google Scholar
Kerr, N.W., M.F. Bruce, M.F. Cross, and J.F. Cross 1990 Caries Experience in Mediaeval Scots. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 83:69–70.Google Scholar
Landa, Diego de 1941 Relación de las cosas de Yucatán. Translated by Alfred L. Tozzer. Papers of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology No. 18. Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.
Lichtenfeld, Marc 2001 Artificial Cranial Modification in the Jequetepeque Valley, Peru. Master's thesis, University of Western Ontario, London.
Lieverse, Angela R. 1999 Diet and the Aetiology of Dental Calculus. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 9:219–232.Google Scholar
Linné, S. 1940 Dental Decoration in Aboriginal America. Ethnos 5:2–28.Google Scholar
López Olivares, Nora M. 1997 Cultural Odontology: Dental Alterations from Petén, Guatemala. In Bones of the Maya: Studies of Ancient Skeletons, edited by: Stephen L. Whittington and David M. Reed, pp. 105–116. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC.
Magennis, Ann L. 1999 Dietary Change at the Lowland Maya Site of Kichpanha, Belize. In Reconstructing Ancient Maya Diet, edited by Christine D. White, pp. 133–150. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.
Massey, Virginia K., and D. Gentry Steele 1997 A Maya Skull Pit from the Terminal Classic Period, Colha, Belize. In Bones of the Maya, edited by Stephen L. Whittington and David M. Reed, pp. 62–77. Smithsonian Press, Washington, DC.
McKern, Thomas. W., and T.D. Stewart 1957 Skeletal Changes in Young American Males. Quartermaster Research and Development Command, Technical Report EP–45, Natick, MA.
Minagawa, Masao, and Eitaro Wada 1984 Stepwise Enrichment of 15N along Food Chains: Further Evidence and the Relation between 15N and Animal Age. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 48:1135–1140.Google Scholar
Morley, Sylvanus G., George W. Brainerd, and revised by Robert J. Sharer 1983 The Ancient Maya. Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA.
Navia, Juan M. 1994 Carbohydrates and Dental Health. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 59 (suppl.):719s–727s.Google Scholar
Patterson, Thomas C. 1987 Tribes, Chiefdoms, and Kingdoms in the Inca Empire. In Power Relations and State Formation, edited by Thomas C. Patterson and Christine W. Gailey, pp. 121–131. American Anthropological Association, Washington, DC.
Pendergast, David M. 1981 Lamanai, Belize: Summary of Excavation Results 1974–1980. Journal of Field Archaeology 8:29–53.Google Scholar
Pendergast, David M. 1985 Lamanai, Belize: An Updated View. In The Lowland Maya Postclassic, edited by Arlen F. Chase and Prudence M. Rice, pp. 91–103. University of Texas Press, Austin.
Pendergast, David M. 1986 Stability through Change: Lamanai, Belize, from the 9th to the 17th Century. In Late Lowland Maya Civilization: Classic to Postclassic, edited by Jeremy A. Sabloff and E. Wyllys Andrews, pp. 223–249. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.
Pendergast, David M. 1990 Up from the Dust: The Central Lowlands Postclassic as Seen from Lamanai and Marco Gonzalez, Belize. In Vision and Revision in Maya Studies, edited by Flora S. Clancy and Peter D. Harrison, pp. 169–177. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.
Pendergast, David M. 1992 Nobless Oblige: The Elites of Altun Ha and Lamanai, Belize. In Mesoamerican Elites: An Archaeological Assessment, edited by Diane Z. Chase and Arlen F. Chase, pp. 61–79. University of Oklahoma Press, London.
Phenice, T.W. 1969 A Newly Developed Visual Method of Sexing the Os Pubis. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 30:297–301.Google Scholar
Rathje, William L. 1970 Socio-political Implications of Lowland Maya Burials: Methodology and Tentative Hypotheses. World Archaeology 1:359–374.Google Scholar
Reed, David M. 1999 Cuisine from Hun–Nal–Ye. In Reconstructing Ancient Maya Diet, edited by Christine D. White, pp. 183–196. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.
Romero, Javier 1958 Mutilaciones dentarias prehispánicas en México y América en general. Serie Investigaciones 3. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City.
Romero, Javier 1970 Dental Mutilation, Trephination and Cranial Deformation. In Physical Anthropology, edited by Thomas D. Stewart, pp. 50–67. Handbook of Middle American Indians, vol. 9, Robert Wauchope, general editor. University of Texas Press, Austin.
Romero Molina, Javier 1986 Catálogo de la Colección de Dientes Mutilados Prehispánicos IV Parte. Colección Fuentes Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City.
Rubín de la Borbolla, Daniel F. 1940 Types of Tooth Mutilation Found in Mexico. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 26:349–365.Google Scholar
Sanders, William T. 1981 Classic Maya Settlement Patterns and Ethnographic Analogy. In Lowland Maya Settlement Patterns, edited by Wendy Ashmore, pp. 351–369. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.
Saul, Frank P., and Norman Hammond 1973 A Classic Maya Tooth Cache from Lubantuun, British Honduras. In Studies in Ancient Mesoamerica, edited by John A. Graham, pp. 31–35. University of California Archaeological Research Facility Contribution 18. University of California, Berkeley.
Saul, Frank P., and Julie M. Saul 1991 The Preclassic Population of Cuello. In Cuello: An Early Maya Community in Belize, edited by Norman Hammond, pp. 134–158. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Saul, Julie M., and Frank P. Saul 1997 The Preclassic Skeletons from Cuello. In Bones of the Maya: Studies of Ancient Skeletons, edited by Stephen L. Whittington and David M. Reed, pp. 28–50. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC.
Schoeninger, Mary J., and Michael J. DeNiro 1984 Nitrogen and Carbon Isotopic Composition of Bone Collagen from Marine and Terrestrial Animals. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 48:625–639.Google Scholar
Schwarcz, Henry P., and Margaret J. Schoeninger 1991 Stable Isotope Analysis in Human Nutritional Ecology. Yearbook of Physical Anthropology 34:283–321.Google Scholar
Smith, A. Ledyard 1972 Dental Decoration. In Excavations at Altar de Sacrificios: Architecture, Settlement, Burials and Caches, edited by A. Ledyard Smith, pp. 222–229. Papers of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology Vol. 62 No. 2. Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.
Smith, Michael E., and Frances F. Berdan 2000 The Postclassic Mesoamerican World System. Current Anthropology 41:283–286.Google Scholar
Smith, Bruce N., and Samuel Epstein 1971 Two Categories of 13C/12C Ratios of Higher Plants. Plant Physiology 47:380–384.Google Scholar
Sweet, A.P.S. 1963 Pre-Hispanic Indian Dentistry. Dental Radiography and Photography 36:19–22.Google Scholar
Tiesler Blos, Vera 1999 Rasgos bioculturales entre los antiguos Mayas: Aspectos arqueológicos y sociales. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Department of Anthropology, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City.
Tiesler Blos, Vera 2001 Decoraciones dentales entre los antiguos Mayas. Ediciones Euroamericanas/Instituto Nacional de Antropología, Mexico.
Torres-Rouff, Christina 2002 Cranial Vault Modification and Ethnicity in Middle Horizon San Pedro de Atacama Chile. Current Anthropology 43(1):163–172.Google Scholar
Tourtellot, Gair, Jeremy A. Sabloff, and Kelli Carmean 1992 “Will the Real Elites Please Stand Up?” An Archaeological Assessment of Maya Elite Behavior in the Terminal Classic Period. In Mesoamerican Elites: An Archaeological Assessment, edited by Diane Z. Chase and Arlen F. Chase, pp. 80–98. University of Oklahoma Press, Oklahoma City.
Troughton, J.J., P.V. Wells, and J.A. Mooney 1974 Photosynthetic Mechanisms and Paleoecology from Carbon Isotope Ratios in Ancient Specimens of C4 and CAM plants. Science 185:610–612.Google Scholar
Van der Merwe, Nikolaas J. 1982 Carbon Isotopes, Photosynthesis, and Archaeology. American Scientist 70:596–606.Google Scholar
Van Rippen, Bene 1917 Pre-Columbian Operative Dentistry of the Indians of Middle and South America. Dental Cosmos LIX (9):861–868.Google Scholar
Virginia, R.A., and C.C. Delwiche 1982 Natural N-15 Abundance of Presumed N-2-fixing and non N-2-fixing Plants from Selected Ecosystems. Oecologia 54:317–325.Google Scholar
Vogel, John C. 1980 Fractionation of Carbon Isotopes during Photosynthesis. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
Walker, Phillip L., and Michael J. DeNiro 1986 Stable Nitrogen and Carbon Isotope Ratios in Bone Collagen as Indices of Prehistoric Dietary Dependence on Marine and Terrestrial Resources in Southern California. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 71:51–61.Google Scholar
Webster, David L. 1985 Surplus, Labor, and Stress in Late Classic Maya Society. Journal of Anthropological Research 41:375–399.Google Scholar
Webster, David L. 1992 Maya Elites: The Perspective from Copan. In Mesoamerican Elites: An Archaeological Assessment, edited by Diane Z. Chase and Arlen F. Chase, pp. 135–156. University of Oklahoma Press, Oklahoma City.
White, Christine D. 1986 Paleodiet and Nutrition of the Ancient Maya at Lamanai, Belize: A Study of Trace Elements, Stable Isotopes, Nutritional and Dental Pathologies. Unpublished M.A. thesis, Department of Anthropology, Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario.
White, Christine D. 1994 Dietary Dental Pathology and Cultural Change in the Maya. In Strength in Diversity, edited by Ann Herring and Leslie Chan, pp. 279–302. Canadian Scholars Press, Toronto.
White, Christine D. (editor) 1999 Reconstructing Ancient Maya Diet. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.
White, Christine D., and Henry P. Schwarcz 1989 Ancient Maya Diet: As Inferred from Isotopic and Elemental Analysis of Bone. Journal of Archaeological Science 16:451–474.Google Scholar
White, Christine D., Paul Healy, and Henry P. Schwarcz 1993 Intensive Agriculture, Social Status, and Maya Diet at Pacbitun, Belize. Journal of Anthropological Research 49:347–375.Google Scholar
White, Christine D., Lori E. Wright, and David M. Pendergast 1994 Biological Disruption in the Early Colonial Period at Lamanai. In In the Wake of Contact: Biological Responses to Conquest, edited by Clark S. Larsen and George Milner, pp. 135–145. WileyLiss, New York.
White, Christine D., David M. Pendergast, Fred J. Longstaffe, and Kimberley R. Law 2001 Social Complexity and Food Systems at Altun Ha, Belize: The Isotopic Evidence. Latin American Antiquity 12(4):371–393.Google Scholar
Whittington, Stephen L. 1999 Caries and Antemortem Tooth Loss at Copan: Implications for a Commoner Diet. In Reconstructing Ancient Maya Diet, edited by Christine D. White, pp. 151–168. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake city.
Whittington, Stephen L., and David M. Reed 1997 Commoner Diet at Copán: Insights from Stable Isotopes and Porotic Hyperostosis. In Bones of the Maya, edited by Stephen L. Whittington and David M. Reed, pp. 157–170. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC.
Whittlesey, Horace G. 1935 History and Development of Dentistry in Mexico. Journal of American Dental Association June:989–995.Google Scholar
Willey, Gordon R., William R. Bullard Jr., John B. Glass, and James C. Gifford. 1965 Prehistoric Maya Settlements in the Belize Valley. Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology Vol. 54. Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.
Williams, Jocelyn S., Christine D. White, and Fred J. Longstaffe 2006 Maya Marine Subsistence: Isotopic Evidence from Marco Gonzalez and San Pedro, Belize. Latin American Antiquity, in press.Google Scholar
Wright, Lori E. 1997 Ecology or Society? Paleodiet and the Collapse of the Pasión Maya Lowlands. In Bones of the Maya, edited by Stephen L. Whittington and David M. Reed, pp. 181–195. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC.