Dental health status of the medieval silver-mining community from Kutná Hora (Czech Republic, 13th-16th c.) : Impact of socioeconomic changes and mortality crises

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OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to evaluate the pathological conditions in teeth from skeletal remains found in the medieval burial ground at Kutná Hora (13th-16th centuries, Czech Republic). We focused on the effect on dental health of socioeconomic changes associated with the boom in silver mining at the site.

DESIGN: In this study, dental caries and antemortem tooth loss were recorded for 469 sexed adults (10,558 permanent teeth). Pathologies were analysed and presented by teeth and alveoli, and the differences between their frequencies were tested in sex-, age-, and burial context-separated groups (mass vs. individual graves).

RESULTS: The oral conditions were characterised by a low frequency of caries and moderate frequency of antemortem tooth loss (AMTL). For caries, males and females showed the same frequencies while AMTL comparisons indicated a higher rate in females. Most differences emerged between age-separated and burial context-separated groups. The age progression of the pathologies was confirmed for both caries and AMTL. Skeletons from mass burials had higher caries and AMTL frequencies than those buried in individual graves.

CONCLUSIONS: The dataset exhibited low caries and below average AMTL rates compared to other medieval European skeletal series. We think that life in this mining centre had a positive effect on the dental health of its inhabitants. The relatively poorer dental health of those buried in mass graves reflected either the specific composition of the population in the first half of the 14th century or the lower resilience of these individuals when facing mortality crises.

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2024

Erschienen:

2024

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:161

Enthalten in:

Archives of oral biology - 161(2024) vom: 05. März, Seite 105913

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Brzobohatá, Hana [VerfasserIn]
Bejdová, Šárka [VerfasserIn]
Černíková, Alena [VerfasserIn]
Velímský, Filip [VerfasserIn]
Frolík, Jan [VerfasserIn]
Velemínský, Petr [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext

Themen:

3M4G523W1G
Antemortem tooth loss
Caries
Diet
Journal Article
Middle Ages
Mining
Mortality crises
Silver

Anmerkungen:

Date Completed 15.03.2024

Date Revised 15.03.2024

published: Print-Electronic

Citation Status MEDLINE

doi:

10.1016/j.archoralbio.2024.105913

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM368721787