Durić Marija, Rakocević Zoran, Tuller Hugh
Laboratory of Anthropology, Department of Anatomy, Medical Faculty, University of Belgrade, 4/2 Dr Subotica, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia.
J Forensic Sci. 2004 Nov;49(6):1313-8.
Unassociated human bones are a particular problem during the exhumation of mass graves and a factor that limits anthropological and paleopathological analyses from archaeological contexts. Extensive anthropological literature has focused on the complex taphonomic factors that influences bone assemblages, but little attention has been paid to postmortem tooth loss and factors affecting this process. The following study focuses upon the influence of different factors on postmortem tooth loss. Three samples were investigated in the study: a medieval church cemetery containing 110 individual skeletal remains, and two samples from a series of mass graves made within the same time period in 1999, containing 402 bodies. The frequency of postmortem tooth loss was analyzed relative to postmortem interval for each sample, excavation methods, age distribution, and presence of bone loss associated with periodontal disease. Our results indicate that the degree of alveolar bone loss significantly affected both antemortem and postmortem tooth loss and that the frequency of postmortem tooth loss has the strongest correlation to time since death. These findings suggest that additional care should be taken when exhuming remains from older contexts.
在挖掘乱葬坑时，零散的人类骨骼是一个特殊问题，也是限制从考古环境中进行人类学和古病理学分析的一个因素。大量的人类学文献聚焦于影响骨骼组合的复杂埋藏学因素，但对死后牙齿脱落以及影响这一过程的因素关注甚少。以下研究聚焦于不同因素对死后牙齿脱落的影响。该研究调查了三个样本：一个中世纪教堂墓地，包含110具个体骨骼遗骸；以及1999年同一时期内一系列乱葬坑中的两个样本，包含402具尸体。针对每个样本，分析了死后牙齿脱落频率与死后间隔、挖掘方法、年龄分布以及与牙周病相关的骨质流失情况之间的关系。我们的结果表明，牙槽骨流失程度显著影响生前和死后的牙齿脱落，且死后牙齿脱落频率与死亡时间的相关性最强。这些发现表明，从年代较久的环境中挖掘遗骸时应格外小心。
