Microbotanical analyses of dental calculus and caries occurrence at Neolithic Tepecik-Çiftlik, Türkiye: insights into diet and oral health

Abstract

The transition to agriculture-based economies and sedentary lifeways during the Neolithic brought significant changes in oral health and diet. Despite the influence of physiological and cultural factors, the frequency of dental pathologies, such as caries and dental calculus, is a common consequence of carbohydrate-rich diets. Caries result from bacterial activity that transforms carbohydrates into lactic acid, leading to the demineralisation of tooth enamel. In contrast, dental calculus can trap and preserve biomolecules and microremains—such as phytoliths and starch grains—making it a valuable resource for investigating past diets and lifeways. Although microbotanical analyses of dental calculus and caries occurrence are common in archaeology, these methods are rarely applied together in the same case study. This paper presents the results of the analyses of microbotanical remains, such as phytoliths and starch grains, retrieved from dental calculus, as well as caries occurrence in 11 individuals from Tepecik-Çiftlik, a Neolithic settlement in southwestern Cappadocia, Turkey. Caries prevalence aligns with previous studies highlighting the poor oral health of the Neolithic Tepecik-Çiftlik community and suggests a high reliance on carbohydrate-rich diets. Microbotanical remains showed contrasting results, with phytoliths indicating the presence of cereals but an absence of starch grains of cereal origin. This lack of cereal starch grains could point towards the influence of culinary and foodway practices on the preservation and occurrence of microbotanical remains in dental calculus, variables often overlooked in the study of ancient diets. These findings contribute to our understanding of the lifeways and oral health of the Neolithic Tepecik-Çiftlik community while drawing attention to how foodways and culinary practices may influence or bias the archaeological record.