Dental health, diet, and social transformations in the Bronze Age: Comparative analysis of pastoral populations in northern Kazakhstan

Comparative analyses of human health and diet are often undertaken for consecutive periods of time which exhibit different social formations or material culture. The aim of this research was to test the link between social transformations and corollary shifts in health or diet. Therefore, oral health and dietary intake were examined in successive Bronze Age periods in central Eurasia with very different patterns of settlement and scales of interaction. Researchers have posited that these periods are evidence of an economic shift from agro-pastoral to pastoral patterns of subsistence. Populations from two sites in northern Kazakhstan (52°10′N, 64°32′E; 52°32′N, 62°23′E) were investigated in terms of dental caries, calculus, abscesses, ante-mortem tooth loss and periodontal disease. The results of this study indicate that the types of dental pathological conditions present stayed relatively uniform over time, suggesting similarities in dietary intake for populations at the sites of Bestamak (2032-1639 cal BC) and Lisakovsk (1860-1680 cal BC). The dietary intake of these communities is indicative of a noncariogenic diet with a high protein content and lack of carbohydrates. These findings conform to general patterns for pastoral societies and are consistent with stable carbon and nitrogen isotopic data. While they types of pathological conditions were similar, the severity of these lesions decreased in the later period. Comparatively more pronounced frequencies of pathological conditions during the earlier period are attributed to multiple etiologies including different patterns of consumption, dental cleaning behaviors, or stress. While the archaeological record indicates broad shifts in settlement patterns, demography, and mortuary rituals from the Middle to Late Bronze Ages, there was only a slight shift in dental health.