Menu
MapConnectionsTopicsBulgariaThe Night (K-TRIO)Marie Skłodowska-CurieFor studentsFor teachersMethodologySurprise me
H2020Individual fellowship2016–2018

ANCIENT_TEETH · An integrative analysis of shifting trends in dental traits in human populations from Neolithic to Iron Age

Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Duration
2016-06-06 → 2018-06-05
EU contribution
€175,866
Participants
1
Scheme
MSCA-IF-EF-ST

Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.

Results in brief

An integrative analysis of shifting trends in dental traits in human populations from Neolithic to Iron Age

The transition to farming was among the most significant events in human history driving major biological and cultural change globally. Agriculture arrived the Great Hungarian Plain (GHP) no later than 6,000 BC. Among the archaeological remains, teeth constitute the fossil evidence most widely used in paleoanthropology research for interpreting the biology of extinct species, including on our own species as they have a strong genetic component. Although teeth have been traditionally used for the study of diets of past population, the morphological change in dental tissues associated with cultural transitions has yet to be examined. This project’s main aim is to study the changes in dental traits of human past populations as indicators of genetic replacements and dietary shifts (or lack thereof) following the transition to agriculture in the GHP, from Early Neolithic to the Iron Age period, utilizing multidisciplinary state-of-the-art methods. This project will help to understand the adaptive process that past human teeth suffered when facing important challenges in the subsistence way of life. Additionally, this project will help to understand how our genetics can be indirectly interpreted from teeth, and hence, to increase our knowledge of past population migratory movements.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union

Project objective

The transition to an agriculture lifestyle is one of the most important events in human evolution, resulting in significant biological, cultural and health changes. This shift started in the Great Hungarian Plain (GHP) around 6,000 cal BC, followed by several cultural and technological transitions during the next several millennia. The objective of the present project is to characterize, for the first time, the changes in dental traits of past European populations and the factors influencing these transitions, integrating data from several multidisiciplinary, state-of-the-art approaches. These will include: 1) Training in and obtaining high-resolution μCT data of upper and lower molars from a unique unstudied Hungarian time-series; 2) The characterisation of internal and external dental morphology trait changes through geometric morphometric and occlusal complexity methods; 3) The use of stable isotope analyses to analyse these populations’ diet; 4) The use of modern ancient DNA techniques (Next Generation Sequencing, NGS) for sexing individuals and subsequent study of sex differences in morphology and dietary regimes through time. This project will not only expand the knowledge of the consequences of adopting agriculture, but will also explain the origins of dental health problems in contemporary populations. More importantly, it will constitute the starting point for developing a long term project characterising the dental trait changes caused by dietary shifts and will provide insight into how these transitions took place throughout the continent. The project will enable the successful collaboration between the School of Archaeology and School of Medicine in University College Dublin, under the supervision of Drs. Ron Pinhasi and Robin Feeney, worldwide experts on the agricultural transition and μCT data processing, respectively. This project will broaden the multidisciplinarity of the prospective fellow and will propel her research career in the EU and worldwide

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

  • UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND, DUBLIN · DublinCoordinatorIreland

Links

Data: CORDIS, © European Union