Dental Paleopathological Features of the Bronze Age Population of the Sal-Manych Steppes

The paper presents the results of a dental pathology study of the Sal-Manych steppes’ population during the stages of the Bronze Age in chronological dynamics. The remains of 64 individuals obtained because of excavations of burials in the Remontnoye village of the Rostov region were studied. The research method consisted of determining the condition of the alveoli and teeth of the maxilla and mandibula, including both the safety of the material and lifetime changes in the dental system (the degree of enamel abrasion, presence of secondary dentin, and tooth loss). Then the main signs on the teeth were recorded, which are considered to be markers of environmental influences on the human body. At the first stage, two samples of children and adolescents belonging to the Early and Middle Bronze Age were compared. There were differences between the series in the degree of enamel abrasion, trauma of the dental system, and the frequency of enamel hypoplasia. It is suggested that children from the cultures of the Middle Bronze Age experienced greater physiological stress associated with the influence of external factors compared to the early chronological group. At the second stage, a comparison was made of the occurrence of dental pathologies in the population belonging to various archaeological cultures of the Bronze Age. There was a shift in the compensatory and adaptive mechanisms of the dental apparatus while maintaining the nature of the diet, which, apparently, correlates with climatic changes in the region in the Early Catacomb and Catacomb culture. According to the dental system, the Sal-Manych steppes’ population of the Bronze Age is approaching the synchronous population of the Lower and Samara Volga regions, which indicates close economic and population ties between these regions at all stages of the Bronze Age, regardless of climatic change.