RAPID: Collaborative Proposal: Dental health and the transition from foraging to agriculture

从觅食到农业的转变是人类历史上的一个决定性转折点，影响了社会的许多方面。以前的生物考古研究集中在人类口腔生物学的明显变化上，包括龋齿的增加和其他牙齿问题，但现代跨文化数据表明，生存战略和口腔健康之间的关系更加复杂。这个项目将调查活着的觅食者的牙病发病率，他们正在从以野生食物为主的饮食过渡到以农作物为主的饮食。资源枯竭、共享土地使用、民族旅游和增加土地法规等问题正在迅速使觅食生活方式变得不可持续，这个项目可能是亲眼目睹从狩猎和采集向农业过渡对人类口腔生物学影响的最后机会。除了解决有关生存战略对人类文化的影响的长期人类学问题外，这项研究还产生了几个更广泛的影响，包括：支持一名初级女科学家；促进内华达大学、拉斯维加斯大学和阿肯色大学的科学研究和能力，这两所大学都是公立大学，历史上在联邦资助的研究中代表性不足；将生物人类学以外的成果传播给牙科研究界，因为这可能对了解口腔环境和改善预防牙科医学产生影响。大多数与牙齿健康下降有关的模型都是基于生物考古学样本以及高纬度地区活着的觅食者的数据。这是有问题的，因为它错过了人类的一大部分，温暖气候的觅食。今天，所有热带觅食种群都会消耗可发酵的碳水化合物，这会导致龋齿。该项目的目的是研究坦桑尼亚的哈扎人，每个人抽样大约30个人：(1)生活在营地的哈扎人，其饮食主要是种植者；(2)居住在丛林营地的哈扎人，其饮食主要或完全是野生食物；以及(3)居住在过渡时期营地的哈扎人，那里的食物由野生食物和种植食物混合组成。将对正畸疾病(牙齿拥挤、阻生、错牙合)和牙周病的程度进行评分，并记录每个受试者可识别的龋齿数量。此外，每个人的饮食构成(使用24小时饮食召回)、团体隶属关系(即营地设置)、在村庄和灌木丛营地居住的时间、性别和年龄将被记录下来。这些因素的影响将通过一个统计模型进行评估，该模型旨在确定每个因素对口腔健康的影响。

The transition from foraging to agriculture was a decisive turning point in human history that affected many aspects of society. Previous bioarchaeological research has focused on apparent changes in human oral biology, including increases in cavities and other dental problems, during this transition, but modern cross-cultural data have suggested that the relationship between subsistence strategy and oral health is more complicated. This project will investigate incidences of dental disorders among living foragers who are transitioning from a diet of wild foods to one dominated by crops. Issues such as resource depletion, shared land use, ethnotourism, and increased land regulations are rapidly making the foraging way of life unsustainable, and this project may represent the last opportunity to witness firsthand the effects of a transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture on human oral biology. In addition to addressing longstanding anthropological questions about the effects of subsistence strategies on human cultures, this research has several broader impacts, including: support of a junior female scientist; advancement of scientific research and capabilities at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and the University of Arkansas, both public universities in states historically underrepresented in federally funded research; and dissemination of results beyond biological anthropology to the dental research community, given possible implications for understanding oral environments and improving preventative dentistry. Most models relating declining dental health to a shift from foraged foods to cultigens have been based on data from bioarcheological samples as well as living foragers at higher latitudes. This is problematic because it misses a large segment of humanity, warm-climate foragers. All tropical foraging populations today consume fermentable carbohydrates, which are cariogenic. The aim of this project is to study the Hadza of Tanzania, sampling approximately 30 individuals each of: (1) Hadza residing in camps where diet includes mostly cultigens, (2) Hadza residing in bush camps where diet is largely, or exclusively, wild foods, and (3) Hadza residing in camps in transition, where diet is composed of a mixture of wild and cultivated foods. The extent of orthodontic disorders (dental crowding, impaction, malocclusion) and periodontal disease will be scored, and number of identifiable caries will be recorded for each subject. In addition, data on diet composition (using 24-hour dietary recalls), group affiliation (i.e. camp setting), duration of residence in village and bush camps, sex, and age will be recorded for each individual. The effects of these factors will be assessed with a statistical model designed to determine the influences of each on oral health.