Dental enamel hypoplasia in the skeletal series exhumed from the ”Vovidenia” Church in Iași (16th -17th centuries)

Abstract

The study is discussing dental enamel hypoplasia, identifed in a sample of human skeletons discovered in 2021 at the “Vovidenia” Church in Iași (Iaşi County, Romania). The unearthed osteological material is mostly derived from inhumation tombs and reburials and includes 114 skeletons: 43 adults (25 ♂ and 18 ♀), 33 children (infans I, infans II) and 38 indeterminable. According to the information provided by archaeological investigations, the skeletons date between the late 16th century and early 17th century. Enamel hypoplasia is a developmental anomaly caused by perturbations of amelogenesis, representing a nonspecific indicator of health or/and nutritional status in human populations; it is a response of the human body to physiological stress. Dental enamel hypoplasia has been widely used for the investigation of growth disruptions in past populations, as it provides a permanent record of disturbances occurring during individual development. In this paper, enamel hypoplasia was observed in two male (aged between 25-45 years) and three female (aged between 30-60 years) subjects. The identified enamel hypoplasia is of linear transversal type, on incisive, canine, premolar and molar teeth, located on the labial and buccal surface of the crowns, with a moderate degree of severity.

Keywords

• dental enamel hypoplasia
• human skeletons
• 16th -17th centuries
• “vovidenia” church in iași (romania)