ИСТИНА

This paper examines to what extent oral health and the occupational use of teeth reflect socioeconomic transformations during the North Caucasian Bronze Age (3700-1650 BCE). Within 2000 years, crucial shifts from mobile pastoralists to sedentary agriculturalists and from hierarchical to more egalitarian societies took place. We investigated skeletal remains dating from the Early to the Late Bronze Age, associated with four archaeological cultures. The study is based on detailed macroscopic and microscopic examinations of 190 sets of permanent dentition from adult individuals with respect to six categories of oral health. Some dental modifications, such as interproximal grooving and heavy frontal wear, are common extramasticatory features across time and regions. Yet varying degrees of these alterations might be related to different socioeconomic backgrounds. More specific modifications, such as polished surfaces and notching, occur in individuals from a large foothill cemetery dating to the Late Bronze Age transition, indicating an increase in the specialization of the occupational use of teeth. In addition, in terms of overall oral health, a distinct relative increase of periapical lesions and antemortem tooth loss were observed. These are not only associated with the intensification of non-alimentary tooth use, but also with a higher consumption of cariogenic food. With the caries rate of 49.5 %, the transition to the Late Bronze Age forecasts the establishment of agricultural lifeways of the Koban Culture. We here present the first diachronic study on Bronze Age populations from the Northern Caucasus that explores patterns within archaeological and paleopathological data.