Osteological evidence of the relationship between the body and the environment of Ossonoba:
st
rd
atypical dental wear and auricular exostoses in individuals from 1 -3 centuries AD
Hélder Fernandes1, Ana Luísa Santos1,2, Ana Gonçalves3, Paula Tavares
1 Depart.
Life Sciences, University of Coimbra, 2 CIAS, 3 ARKHAIOS Évora, Portugal
INTRODUCTION
During construction works in the center of Faro (Algarve, Portugal) a necropolis from the Roman town, named Ossonoba (fig. 1), was located. The city was an important center of
Lusitania province having its economic bases in production and distribution functions (Alarcão, 1988; Barata, 1997; Gamito, 1997; Mantas, 1997).
The close location to the shore, between Delta (Ria) Formosa and the Atlantic (fig. 2), promoted its development under Roman administration from the 3rd B.C. to 5th A.D centuries.
Fig. 1 – Ossonoba was located at the south of Lusitânia
The city was a prominent trading port with strong connections with the Gallia (France), Italy and North Africa, and the maritime thematic (fig. 3) as its brand image (Alarcão, 1988;
Barata, 1997; Gamito, 1997; Mantas, 1997). The main economic activities were related to the richness of the marine environment (Gamito, 1997).
In an excavation carried out in 2004 by ARKHAIOS (Professional Archaeology and Landscape), with the presence of an anthropologist [PT], a necropolis was identified (fig. 4 and
5). The votive goods such as amphorae, skylights, bronze and iron nails, among others, dated its use from the 1st-3rd centuries A.D. (Gonçalves and Puch, 2004).
This work aims to describe atypical patterns of dental wear and evaluate the possible extramastigatory use of the teeth, as well as to analyze the possible link between the auricular
exostoses observed and occupations.
Fig. 2 – Current view of Faro.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
Fig. 3 - Coins coined in Ossonoba showing a
mercantile boat and two tunas (Faria, 1997:368)
In the 415 m2 excavated, 69 adults and 13 non-adults skeletons in articulation, commingled bones and cremations were recovered; 34 adult individuals (out of the 82 in
articulation, or 41,5%) were studied by the first author as his MSc thesis. They correspond to 19 males, 14 females and one of unknown sex.
The dentition was observed macroscopically and ante or post mortem tooth loss recorded. Moreover, the dental wear, defined as the irreversible loss of tooth tissue starting after
tooth eruption (Kaidonis, 2008; Yu et al., 2009) was analyzed, according to the method proposed by Smith (1984).
Auricular exostosis can be defined as an abnormal bone growth in the external auditory canal (Velasco-Vazquez et al., 2000; Crowe et al., 2010). When visible, was classified in the
grades proposed by Crowe et al. (2010).
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Fig. 4 - View of the excavation with two graves
in tegulae, an amphora and an individual
Fig. 5 - General view of the excavation area
Tooth wear
Auricular exostoses
From the 34 adult individuals, 756 (70%) teeth were recovered (in a maximum of 1088 expected); 123 were lost ante and 79 post
mortem (11% and 7%, respectively).
From the 34 individuals, 17 (25%) tympanic portions of the temporal bone were preserved. Three fragments from 2 males shows
exuberant exostoses of the external auditory canal (fig. 10).
The observation of the dentition revealed signs of atypical wear in 12 (out of 34 or 35%) individuals, with a mean grade of 6.45 in
males (n = 9) and 6.14 in females (n = 3). As can be seen in figure 6, in the remaining 22 individuals the mean wear was 2.6 (10
males. 11 females and one of unknown), which is a common grade of wear ​present in several studies.
Mean dental wear
The high grades of wear are probably due to extramastigatory use of the teeth (fig. 7 to 9) related to abrasion.
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
6,42
6,14
2,6
2,6
Males
Extramastigatory
wear
'Normal' wear
Fig. 10 - Left (grade 2) and right (grade 3) temporal bones from sk. 59 and left (grade 2) from sk. 34 showing exostoses of the external auditory canal
According to literature, auricular exostoses are more frequent among young adults and adults as a result of inflammation of soft
tissues due to repetitive otitis (Velasco-Vasquez et al., 2000).
Females
Fig. 6 – Differences in the mean of dental wear
The registration of this condition can reveal information about activity patterns such as the exposure to cold water for long periods of
time (Crowe et al., 2010), for example during fishing or diving, which can occur in environments where marine resources are
abundant, similarly to what was likely to happen in Ossonoba. They can also be related to the frequent use of thermal baths, which
were very common in the Roman period (Vasquez-Velasco et al., 2000; Crowe et al., 2010).
The male individual with bilateral exostoses also exhibits extramastigatory dental wear which reinforce the hypothesis that he
performed activities related to exploitation of marine resources.
FINAL COMMENTS
Fig. 8 - Mandible from
an adult male (Sk. 67)
Fig. 9 - Mandible from an adult male (Sk. 75)
Tooth wear is a multifactorial condition that results of three processes, which may occur in isolation or together:
- attrition, the physiological loss of tooth tissue resulting from direct contact between neighboring and opposing teeth (occlusal
and interproximal) in actions like speaking (Imfeld, 1996; Kaidonis, 2008),
- erosion, the removal of tooth tissue by the chemical action of acids produced by oral bacteria, for example, the diet adopted
(Imfeld, 1996; Bartlett et al., 2008), and
- abrasion, the "pathological" wear caused by mechanical process involving repetitive exposure of the teeth to foreign objects or
substances, for example, the extramastigatory use of the mouth (as a 3rd hand) (Imfeld, 1996, Bartlett et al., 2008).
The types of dental wear observed may be associated with the use of the mouth in processing fibers for the production of strings,
baskets, nets for fishing and hunting (Molnar, 2008; Waters-Rist et al., 2010), and can also be related to the adopted diet (Cunha, 1997).
The geographical location of Ossonoba highlights the possible importance of marine resources to the inhabitants of this city in the
Roman period, with the use of teeth as an aid for the production of fishing materials.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
To the team from Arkhaios, to Joana Prieto and to
Pest-OE/SADG/UI0283/2011
The osteological evidence registered are important to strengthen the insights about the activity patterns of past populations.
Extramastigatory dental wear was visible in 12 (35%) individuals, being more frequent in males (3:1), like in other studies.
According to the bibliography, these traits are associated to activities such as the production of artifacts, eventually related
to fishing. Comparable findings were reported by Assis and co-authors (2008) in a Roman necropolis located in Monte da
Caparica (near Lisbon), a place close to Tagus river and Atlantic ocean.
Two male (10.5%) individuals showed auricular exostoses, which are interpreted by different authors to be due to long
exposures to cold water, possibly during diving or in the frigidarium cold bath, both documented practices in the region in
Roman times. To our knowledge, there are no other similar cases reported in the country.
Currently, these two parameters are under analysis in all human osteological remains from this necropolis.
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