ANTH 457 - Dental Anthropology

3 Credit(s)

The human dentition is useful in many ways to anthropologists. Teeth are constructed of the hardest substances in the body and are often the majority of remains that survive digenetic processes through time. They reflect our interaction with the environment, whether through the mastication of food, or as tools in other activities. Cultures hold different conceptions of beauty based partially on the physical appearance of teeth. And, teeth are under relatively strong genetic control, which makes it possible to distinguish geographic groups of humans from one another. This is just a partial listing of the important anthropological information that may be gleaned from the study of teeth.