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Diet and dental caries among later stone age inhabitants of the Cape Province, South Africa
Author(s) -
Sealy J. C.,
Patrick M. K.,
Morris A. G.,
Alder D.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
american journal of physical anthropology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.146
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1096-8644
pISSN - 0002-9483
DOI - 10.1002/ajpa.1330880202
Subject(s) - cape , geography , dentistry , medicine , socioeconomics , environmental health , archaeology , sociology
Stable carbon isotope measurements and incidences of dental caries are presented for three groups of prehistoric human skeletons from different regions of the Cape Province, South Africa. The isotopic analyses of bone collagen demonstrate the importance of marine foods in the diet and vary through time, across space, and according to sex. The incidence of dental caries ranges from 0% among heavily marine‐dependent individuals from the south‐western Cape coast, to 17.7% among skeletons from an archaeological site on the south coast. The extremely high incidence of caries in a hunter‐gatherer population may be related to lack of fluoride in the water. © 1992 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.