doiSerbia

Ageing in the Danube gorges population (9500-5500 BC): Tooth cementum annulation method

Radović Marija B. (Filozofski fakultet, Odeljenje za arheologiju, Beograd)

Tooth cementum annulation, the microscopic method for the determination of an individual’s age, gives results that are highly correlated with the chronological age of an individual. Nevertheless, this method is still rarely used for age estimation in archaeological populations. In this study, using the tooth cementum annulation method, teeth of 21 individuals of the Djerdap anthropological series, dated to a period from the 10th to the 6th millennium BC, were analysed. The obtained data are important for overcoming some methodological issues in anthropology of the Danube Gorges, as well as with the precise age estimation of old individuals and with the assessment of age in cases where the skeletal material has been very poorly preserved. The only obstacle to the full application of the tooth cementum annulation method is the taphonomy changes of tooth cementum which were detected on several teeth in this study.

Keywords: Individual’s age, dental anthropology, tooth cementum annulation, the Đerdap anthropological series, taphonomy

Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 47 001: Bioarchaeology of ancient Europe - people, animals and plants in Serbian prehistory