Jiménez-Brobeil, Sylvia A.; Maroto, Rosa M.; Milella, Marco; Laffranchi, Zita; Reyes Botella, Candela (2022). Introduction of sugarcane in Al‐Andalus (Medieval Spain) and its impact on children's dental health. International journal of osteoarchaeology, 32(1), pp. 283-293. John Wiley & Sons 10.1002/oa.3064
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Intl_J_of_Osteoarchaeology_-_2021_-_Jim_nez_u2010Brobeil_-_Introduction_of_sugarcane_in_Al_u2010Andalus_Medieval_Spain_and_its.pdf - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons: Attribution-Noncommercial (CC-BY-NC). Download (3MB) | Preview |
The introduction of sugarcane in Europe by the Arabs in the 10th century AD brought about a drastic change in gastronomy and oral health. In Southern Spain (Al-Andalus), sugarcane was mainly consumed by the elite, although its consumption became relatively widespread during the Nasrid Kingdom. The aim of this study was to explore the effect of the introduction of sugar on human diet and oral health by comparing patterns of caries in deciduous teeth between nonadult skeletal samples from two Nasrid populations (La Torrecilla and Talará) and a comparative set representing various Iberian populations without access to sugarcane (from Bronze to Medieval Ages). We analyzed 770 teeth from 115 nonadults divided into three groups: infants under 2 years of age, nonadults presenting only deciduous teeth, and nonadults presenting mixed deciduous and permanent dentition. The frequency of caries is high in the Nasrid individuals and very low in the comparative sample. This finding is in agreement with contemporaneous written sources on the utilization of sugarcane in the diet and as a pacifier for infants during weaning. Differences in the frequency of caries between the Nasrid samples (higher in Talará) are likely related to the socioeconomic differences between these populations.
Item Type: |
Journal Article (Original Article) |
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Division/Institute: |
04 Faculty of Medicine > Service Sector > Institute of Legal Medicine > Anthropology |
UniBE Contributor: |
Milella, Marco, Laffranchi, Zita |
Subjects: |
300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology 500 Science 500 Science > 570 Life sciences; biology 900 History 900 History > 940 History of Europe |
ISSN: |
1047-482X |
Publisher: |
John Wiley & Sons |
Funders: |
[UNSPECIFIED] Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Spanish Government |
Language: |
English |
Submitter: |
Marco Milella |
Date Deposited: |
02 Feb 2022 08:47 |
Last Modified: |
05 Dec 2022 16:02 |
Publisher DOI: |
10.1002/oa.3064 |
BORIS DOI: |
10.48350/164037 |
URI: |
https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/164037 |
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