Dental Microwear in Natufian Hunter-Gatherers and Pre-Pottery Neolithic Agriculturalists from Northern Isreal

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Overview

The aim of this study is to infer dietary texture from dental microwear during the Natufian hunter-gatherer to pre-pottery Neolithic agricultural development in northern Israel. Microwear patterns were recorded from sixty skeletons form eight sites. Diet-microwear correlations were identified through univariate and multivariate statistical procedures. The study included an investigation into the relationship between microwear, the position of a molar along the tooth row, and location on molar facet 9. A microwear methodology was developed from these investigations. Dental pits were larger and scratches wider amongst the agriculturalists compared to the hunter-gatherers. It was inferred from this pattern that the agriculturalists consumed a harder diet and this was related to an archaeologically suggested change in food processing.