Australian Museum Journal Dentition of Watom Island, Bismarck Archipelago, Melanesia
- Shortform:
- Turner, 1989, Rec. Aust. Mus. 41(3): 293–296
- Author(s):
- Turner, C. G.
- Year published:
- 1989
- Title:
- Dentition of Watom Island, Bismarck Archipelago, Melanesia
- Serial title:
- Records of the Australian Museum
- Volume:
- 41
- Issue:
- 3
- Start page:
- 293
- End page:
- 296
- DOI:
- 10.3853/j.0067-1975.41.1989.146
- Language:
- English
- Date published:
- 30 November 1989
- Cover date:
- 30 November 1989
- ISSN:
- 0067-1975
- CODEN:
- RAUMAJ
- Publisher:
- The Australian Museum
- Place published:
- Sydney, Australia
- Subjects:
- ANTHROPOLOGY; ARCHAEOLOGY; NEW GUINEA; OCEAN: PACIFIC
- Digitized:
- 24 November 2008
- Available online:
- 08 December 2008
- Reference number:
- 146
- EndNote package:
- EndNote file
- Title page:
- Title page (93kb PDF)
- Complete work:
- Complete work (515kb PDF)
Abstract
Teeth belonging to two adults excavated from the Lapita level occupation of Watom Island (ca. 2,300 years before present [YBP]) are described and compared with three large dental series from New Britain, recent Thailand, and Mokapu, Hawaii. As far as can be determined from a sample of two individuals, the Watom teeth appear to be more like those from New Britain than Thailand or Hawaii. All teeth are free of dental caries, hinting that the Watom diet was not overly dependent on sticky carbohydrate foodstuffs.
Teeth belonging to two adults excavated from the Lapita level occupation of Watom Island (ca. 2,300 years before present [YBP]) are described and compared with three large dental series from New Britain, recent Thailand, and Mokapu, Hawaii. As far as can be determined from a sample of two individuals, the Watom teeth appear to be more like those from New Britain than Thailand or Hawaii. All teeth are free of dental caries, hinting that the Watom diet was not overly dependent on sticky carbohydrate foodstuffs.