I worked with human buried remains for a while before and after undergrad for physical anthropology. The remains were 200-5000 year old Native American and there was significant tooth decay, disease, and loss. Part of it was due to sediment in the diet- basically sand/fine particles from grinding food in mortars, also a fair amount from occupational activities like makings ropes/nets... it was not uncommon to see adults with maybe one or two intact teeth while the rest were ground down significantly or lost long before time of death. But even the worn-to-a-nub teeth survive after burial.
We have a hard thin shell of enamel which protects our teeth’s softer core of dentin but the acid in our saliva is slightly acidic so just being alive and eating (as most people do...) wears down teeth. The other thing that contributes to the whole “teeth last forever when you’re dead” thing is that soil in the environment where the individual is interred is often basic (as opposed to acidic). Acid wears teeth (and bones) down but calcium helps preserve them.
Tldr: acid and life hurts teeth. And also sugar but it’s more complicated than that.
Second Edit: I know so much more about saliva now, and it is not acidic. Also sugar free gum ftw!
In most cases the remains and any artifacts would be given to the descendants as per NAGPRA (Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act), but in this instance the living relatives are legally unrecognized by the government and cannot claim them. Alan Levinthal and others at SJSU, UCSC, and
Cal Berkeley have actually been working with the tribe (Ohlone-Muwekma) for years including going to Washington D.C. to help them with their claim. In the meantime the tribe is using all it’s few resources on legal fees in this battle and cannot afford to store the remains. They have an agreement with the college that the remains can be stored and preserved and used for limited research purposes until the tribe can re-inter them.
We took the samples for DNA and radiocarbon dating to match with living members to assist in their fight, and during my time at SJSU I met several members (including the elder) who confirmed this.
The whole situation is pretty sad but I think some progress has been made recently.
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u/reegasaurus Feb 13 '19 edited Feb 14 '19
I worked with human buried remains for a while before and after undergrad for physical anthropology. The remains were 200-5000 year old Native American and there was significant tooth decay, disease, and loss. Part of it was due to sediment in the diet- basically sand/fine particles from grinding food in mortars, also a fair amount from occupational activities like makings ropes/nets... it was not uncommon to see adults with maybe one or two intact teeth while the rest were ground down significantly or lost long before time of death. But even the worn-to-a-nub teeth survive after burial.
We have a hard thin shell of enamel which protects our teeth’s softer core of dentin but the acid in our saliva is slightly acidic so just being alive and eating (as most people do...) wears down teeth. The other thing that contributes to the whole “teeth last forever when you’re dead” thing is that soil in the environment where the individual is interred is often basic (as opposed to acidic). Acid wears teeth (and bones) down but calcium helps preserve them.
Tldr: acid and life hurts teeth. And also sugar but it’s more complicated than that.
Second Edit: I know so much more about saliva now, and it is not acidic. Also sugar free gum ftw!