HUMAN DENTAL REMAINS FROM GOUGH'S CAVE 



29 



Table 3 Summarized odontometric data for Gough's Cave sample (Late 

 Pleistocene/Early Holocene), including number of individuals fn). mean 

 mesio-distal diameter (MD), mean bucco-lingual diameter (BL). 

 standard deviation (sd) and mean crown area. Data are for the left side, 

 with right side substituted when the left is missing. When only one tooth 

 is available, data are presented in parentheses. 



COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS 



Tooth 



n 



Avg. 

 MD 



sd 



n 



Avg. 

 BL 



sd 



Crown 

 Area 



Ull 



2 



9.44 



0.23 



3 



7.43 



0.44 



70.14 



UI2 



2 



7.79 



0.58 



2 



7.57 



0.47 



58.97 



UC 



2 



7.82 



0.45 



2 



9.68 



0.25 



75.70 



UP3 



2 



6.58 



0.21 



2 



9.16 



0.17 



60.27 



UP4 



1 



(5.75) 



- 



1 



(8.83) 



- 



(50.77) 



UM1 



3 



10.64 



0.31 



3 



12.19 



0.65 



129.70 



UM2 



3 



9.99 



0.24 



2 



12.46 



1.10 



124.48 



UM3 



1 



(8.33) 



- 



1 



(11.13) 



- 



92.71 



LI1 



2 



5.18 



0.74 



2 



5.99 



0.55 



31.03 



LI2 



3 



5.51 



0.62 



3 



6.54 



0.48 



36.04 



LC 



2 



6.87 



1.15 



2 



8.10 



0.85 



55.65 



LP3 



2 



6.60 



0.28 



2 



7.98 



0.92 



52.67 



LP4 



4 



6.92 



0.26 



4 



8.27 



0.22 



57.23 



LM1 



3 



10.90 



0.76 



3 



10.64 



0.44 



115.98 



LM2 



4 



11.03 



1.09 



4 



10.50 



0.34 



115.82 



LM3 



1 



(10.68) 



- 



1 



(10.93) 



- 



(116.73) 



adults, the wear on the anterior teeth is almost always grade 1 (some 

 dentine exposed). There is one instance of an isolated upper incisor 

 (87- 103a) that is heavily worn (grade 3) although probably due to 

 age-related wear consistent with older age. The maxillary first 

 molars have a wear range of grades 1-1.5, with the lower molars 

 experiencing slightly more wear (grades 1-2.5), although again, the 

 type of wear suggests older adults. All erupted maxillary and man- 

 dibular second and third molars in the sample were only slightly 

 worn (grade = 0.5). 



The degree of wear may be correlated with instance of molar 

 crown pressure chipping in at least one individual. In Gough's 

 Cave 1, the RM 1 , has an attrition score of grade 1, although the 

 tooth exhibits chipping along the lingual surface of the hypocone; 

 its antimere, LM 1 , has the same amount of wear but lacks any 

 evidence of pressure chipping. However, the mandibular counter- 

 parts to these two teeth indicate much heavier use of the right side, 

 with the RM! wear grade of 1.5, (no chipping) while the LM, 

 mirrors the lesser wear (no chipping) of the left maxillary molar. 

 Two other individuals (87-253, Gough's Cave 6), have a high 

 degree of attrition on the lower molars, but wear is not correlated 

 with pressure chipping. 



Specimen 87- 1 39, a young-middle age adult, displays an attrition/ 

 chipping pattern that may be consistent with occupational use of the 

 teeth. Crown microtrauma occurs on the maxillary incisors, between 

 the right I 1 - 2 , and the left I 1 ' 2 , and on the buccal surface of the left 

 upper canine. The LP 4 was lost antemortem, and the LP 3 crown was 

 damaged postmortem. The left side of the anterior dentition may 

 have been utilized more in this adult; the R c , RP 34 , and LRM 1 2 did 

 not display evidence of chipping. Because there are no instances of 

 caries in the sample, the antemortem loss of LP 4 may be related to the 

 degree and amount of pressure chipping found in the dentition of this 

 specimen. Unfortunately, no mandibular dental remains for this 

 adult were recovered. 



Other Features: There is no evidence of cultural treatment (i.e., 

 interproximal 'toothpick' grooves, enamel cleaning striations) or of 

 intentional dental modification. 



Results of this comparative analysis are based on a numerically 

 limited series should be treated with caution. The analysis presented 

 here suggests only possible trends present in the available data, and 

 with the assumption that these few individuals from Gough's Cave 

 are representative of the populations of the Late Pleistocene/Early 

 Holocene British Isles. 



Morphology: Table 4 presents a comparison of the Gough's 

 Cave morphological data with the occurrence of 20 key traits in 

 seven early populations: Upper Paleolithic-Neolithic North Europe 

 (ca. 32,000-4,000 BP), Mesolithic Nubia (ca. 18,000-12,000 BP), 

 Iberomaurusian North Africa (ca. 16,700-10,500 BP), Epi- 

 Paleolithic Levant Natufians {ca. 12,800-10,200 BP), 

 Mesolithic-Neolithic South Asia (ca. 8,000 -2,800 BP), Neolithic- 

 Bronze Age Lake Baikal (ca. 7,400-3,800 BP), and Jomon Japan 

 (ca. 7,000-2,300 BP). The data are also compared with two historic 

 pooled populations: North Europe, and Khoisan-speakers of sub- 

 Saharan Africa. Results were compared with the Early World Average 

 for each trait (Hawkey 1998) . Populations were then designated as 

 having percentages higher than (H), lower than (L) or within five 

 percent above or below the Early World Average (A). Because the 

 Gough's Cave sample is so small numerically, the frequency of each 

 trait is characterized as having total absence (0), less than or equal to 

 50 percent (+), or more than half the sample (++). 



Among world populations, the Gough's Cave dental morphology 

 seems most like other early world groups with a simplified dental 

 pattern. Gough's Cave is most similar to Late Pleistocene/Late 

 Holocene (Neolithic) North Europe, sharing trait frequencies of 

 83.3%. By historic times, Gough's Cave is still like Recent North 

 Europe (72.2%), although there are differences in presence of tuber- 

 culum dentale, hypocone, Carabelli's trait, one-root P 3 , and cusp 7. 

 The simplified dental pattern seen in Gough's Cave shares similari- 

 ties with two other Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene world samples: 

 Epi-Paleolithic Levant Natufians (70.0%) and North African 

 Iberomaurusians (70.0%), and with the Early Holocene sites of 

 South Asia (83.3 %) and Jomon (80.0%). 



The sample is dentally unlike the Late Pleistocene sites of Nubia 

 (42.1%), and the Late Holocene (Neolithic-Bronze Age) inhabitants 

 of Lake Baikal (52.6%). If the Khoisan-speaking populations from 

 modern sub-Saharan Africa are taken to represent the early sub- 

 Saharan African dental pattern (Irish 1993, 1998), then Gough's 

 Cave shares only 60% of key traits with this geographic group. 



Only one archaic dental trait appears in the sample. Presence of P 

 Tomes' root occurred in one out of two individuals who could be 

 scored for the trait. A study of more than 7,700 individuals (Turner & 

 Hawkey 1991) found that the trait occurs most often in Africa, 

 ranging from 20-50%, with the Late Pleistocene Nubian sample 

 among the highest in the world (47%). North Europe averages 9%of 

 trait presence, although the range can be quite broad (0^43%). The 

 instance of Tomes' root in this sample, therefore, cannot exclude 

 similarities with either European or African populations for the trait. 

 However, the lack of expression in Gough's Cave of many other 

 archaic traits found by Irish (1993, 1998) in the sub-Saharan African 

 Dental Complex (i.e, high frequencies of upper canine mesial acces- 

 sory ridge, Carabelli's trait M 1 , cusp 7 M r presence of Y-groove 

 pattern M,, two-rooted P\ and lack of congenital absence M 3 ) 

 suggests that Gough's Cave is dentally unlike the African samples. 



Surprisingly, Gough's Cave lacked any expression of Carabelli's 

 trait (0/3), although the trait is often found to occur in high frequen- 

 cies (80%) among modern British (Goose & Lee 1971). The trait is 

 of little use by itself to differentiate at geographic population levels 



