Allocation of Scattered Teeth From a Batavia 1629 Communal Grave

Abstract

When the Dutch ship Batavia wrecked in 1629 on Morning Reef in the Houtman Abrolhos Islands off the coast of Western Australia, most of the passengers and crew survived the wreck, but about 200 of the survivors later perished on and around Beacon Island where they had landed after the wreck. As many as 81 bodies may be buried on Beacon Island and 21 bodies have been excavated to date. During the 2017–2018 excavations, seven of the buried individuals were excavated from a communal grave. During the excavation, 18 teeth were found scattered in the soil around the bodies. A systematic method is presented to allocate isolated teeth to their appropriate skeleton using tooth morphology and tooth wear as the primary criteria for allocation. Tooth wear must be similar to the adjacent and opposing dentition before the tooth is considered for allocation. If the wear is similar, the tooth is gently fitted into the proposed tooth socket. The fit of the tooth in the tooth socket is visually assessed, and if close, the tooth is radiographed in situ to confirm the allocation. Each separated tooth must be tested in all the sites to which it is appropriate. If a tooth fits more than one site, it cannot be allocated. Use of this method allowed allocation of 10 separated teeth in 28 possible sites. The possible cause of the separation of teeth from the skeleton is discussed.