Dental development pathology in wild artiodactyls: Two prehistoric case studies from France

• Prehistoric cases of odontoma and of dental duplication are described in two wild animals.
• We present their differential diagnosis, etiology and impact and seek similar archeological cases.
• The populational significance of such anomalies is discussed.

In this paper we report two unique cases of dental development anomalies observed on prehistoric faunal material from France. The first is a severely malformed first incisor from a red deer, dated to the 13th–12th millennium BC, which is interpreted as a composite odontoma, a rare pseudo-tumor of odontogenic origin. The second is a Mesolithic (9th–8th millennium BC) wild boar skull presenting an anomalous tooth row including a duplication of the upper left second premolar. Both pathologies are discussed in terms of diagnosis and etiology, and comparable archeological cases are sought. We conclude by stressing that the occurrence of these two developmental anomalies appears to have a strong spontaneous component, and that caution should be exercised when considering such defects in terms of populational significance.