Dental Traits in Archaeological site of Lewoleba, East Nusa Tenggara
Andeka A. P. Pangestu , & Myrtati D. Artaria (*)
Dept. Anthropology, FISIP, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia.
(*) Corresponding author: myrtati.artaria[at]fisip.unair.ac.id
Abstract
Dentitions are part of the human body that is very durable. They give clues such as age at death, origin, and lifestyle. Lewoleba is one of the archaeological sites in Indonesia that contains important findings related to the history of Indonesian people. Fragmented human skeletons and teeth are some of the finding in the excavations sites. The purpose of this study was to identify the teeth found on this site, to examine the dental characteristics, so that we have clues regarding the origin of these people. We observe the teeth and score the dental traits found in the site. A number of 4 (four) teeth were observed. The scoring of dental traits was based on ASUDAS scoring system. Our results showed that the teeth were from Mongoloid descent. We found shovel shaped incisors and mild double shovel incisors. We also found that there was a neatly crafted hole on each root of the tooth. The size of the holes was uniformed. We believe that the teeth were used as a form of body ornament. We conclude that the teeth we found are a sign of the existence of culture using human dentition as a body ornament. Although the teeth are from the Mongoloid population group, we were unable to ascertain whether the teeth were from the same population as the people who are wearing the ornament, because we had not found a complete set of teeth on the buried skeletons.
Keywords: dental traits, Lewoleba, archaeological site, Mongoloid, origin
Topic: Human Mobility and Culture Diversity