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The Application of Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy-Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (SEM-EDX) in Ancient Dental Calculus for the Reconstruction of Human Habits

Part of: Micrographia Collection

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2017

Dana Fialová ,
Radim Skoupý ,
Eva Drozdová ,
Aleš Paták ,
Jakub Piňos ,
Lukáš Šín ,
Radoslav Beňuš  and
Bohuslav Klíma
Dana Fialová*
Affiliation:
Department of Experimental Biology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kamenice 5, 625 00 Brno, Czech Republic
Radim Skoupý
Affiliation:
Institute of Scientific Instruments of the CAS, Královopolská 147, 612 64 Brno, Czech Republic
Eva Drozdová
Affiliation:
Department of Experimental Biology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kamenice 5, 625 00 Brno, Czech Republic
Aleš Paták
Affiliation:
Institute of Scientific Instruments of the CAS, Královopolská 147, 612 64 Brno, Czech Republic
Jakub Piňos
Affiliation:
Institute of Scientific Instruments of the CAS, Královopolská 147, 612 64 Brno, Czech Republic
Lukáš Šín
Affiliation:
Archaeological Centre Olomouc, U Hradiska 6, 779 00 Olomouc, Czech Republic
Radoslav Beňuš
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University, Ilkovičova 6, 842 15 Bratislava 4, Slovak Republic
Bohuslav Klíma
Affiliation:
Department of History, Faculty of Education, Masaryk University, Poříčí 9, 603 00 Brno, Czech Republic
*
*Corresponding author. [email protected]
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Abstract

The great potential of scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX) is in detection of unusual chemical elements included in ancient human dental calculus to verify hypotheses about life and burial habits of historic populations and individuals. Elemental spectra were performed from archeological samples of three chosen individuals from different time periods. The unusual presence of magnesium, aluminum, and silicon in the first sample could confirm the hypothesis of high degree of dental abrasion caused by particles from grinding stones in flour. In the second sample, presence of copper could confirm that bronze jewelery could lie near the buried body. The elemental composition of the third sample with the presence of lead and copper confirms the origin of individual to Napoleonic Wars because the damage to his teeth could be explained by the systematic utilization of the teeth for the opening of paper cartridges (a charge with a dose of gunpowder and a bullet), which were used during the 18th and the 19th century AD. All these results contribute to the reconstruction of life (first and third individual) and burial (second individual) habits of historic populations and individuals.

Keywords

ancient dental calculusSEM-EDXhuman habitsthe Great Moravian EmpireNapoleonic Wars
Type
Micrographia
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 23 , Issue 6 , December 2017 , pp. 1207 - 1213
Copyright
© Microscopy Society of America 2017 

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