A new system for recording tooth wear on pig teeth And its application to the Neolithic assemblage of Durrington Walls (Wiltshire, UK)

Background (Tooth wear systems) Grant (1982) -

Bull and Payne (1982 – same volume) Applied to both upper and lower teeth, Referred only to the presence or absence of dentine exposure. J = Wear on enamel, no dentine exposed (equivalent to ‘a’ in Grant) W = dentine exposed by wear So, an M1 could have ‘JJ’, ‘WJ’ or ‘WW’ Background (Tooth wear systems) posterior ‘pillar’ anterior ‘pillar’

Background (Durrington) One of Britain’s largest henge monuments Located 3km NE of Stonehenge Attributed to ‘Grooved Ware’ culture Initial excavations by Wainwright Harcourt recorded faunal remains - mainly domestic pig and cattle - immature pigs predominated

Background (Durrington) Faunal remains later re-examined: Richards and Thomas (1984) – differential deposition Albarella and Serjeantson (2002) – Feasting activity? Albarella and Payne (2005) – biometrical database Stonehenge Riverside Project – led by Mike Parker Pearson Material from new excavations at Durrington include relatively large number of maxillae. One context in particular: midden context 593 yielded a large number of maxillae.

Methodology The tooth is split into a number of ‘pillars’, The occlusal surface has one, two or three parts (depending on the tooth), each of which is given a code. / Signifies that tooth pillars are separated by an enamel bridge - Signifies that tooth pillars are joined by dentine exposure ‘pillar’ ‘cusp’

Methodology w1No dentine exposure - enamel wear only w2 Dentine exposed as one or more small unconnected area(s) on the occlusal surface w3 Dentine exposed as a single area occupying most of the occlusal surface w4 Enamel on part or all of the pillar edge has worn away w1/w1 w2/w1w2/w2 w3/w2w3/w3 w4-w4

w1No dentine exposure - enamel wear only w2Dentine exposed on buccal side of tooth only w3Dentine exposed on both buccal and lingual sides of tooth Maxillary P4 w1No dentine exposure - enamel wear only w2Dentine exposed but broken by enamel into more than one area w3 Dentine exposed and unbroken by enamel, creating one larger area of exposure Mandibular P4 Methodology

Application of the method to the new material Age Age Groups (O’Connor, 1988) Mandibular Wear Stage (Grant, 1982) Seasonality Determining season of death – Important at Durrington: Previous suggestions of winter feast Alignment of site in relation to Stonehenge

- Similar pattern for mandibles and maxillae - Killing peak of immature animals – why? Animals fattened over the autumn Related to feasting activity? Results similar for mandibles but different for maxillae – due to recovery issues? Age at death Jaws assigned to age groups set out by O’Connor (1988) New Material Material from excavation

Mandibular Wear Stages Two peaks: MWS 9-10 and the second at MWS Increased sample size, - More reliable excavation techniques Killing peaks = seasonal killing? (Ervynck, 1997) excavation New Excavation 1 peak: MWS 9-10

Further exploration of Seasons of Death Wear patterns were compared to patterns of jaws with known ages. Modern specimens from a collection at the Museum for the Study of Domestic Animals in Halle, Germany were used for this First winter and second summer killing. 1 st winter killing = Higher proportions of maxillae 2nd summer killing = Higher proportions of mandibles

Seasons of death: Context 593 Higher proportion of 2nd summer killing Wider range of killing seasons More mandibles here! 1st winter killing is dominant 2 nd summer killing is less prominent. More maxillae here! Context 593Non-593 contexts Context 593 – related to ritual/feasting activity? Maxillae in 593 – Crania deposited apart from mandibles (also many loose teeth) Non-593 contexts not related to ritual/feasting? BOTH RITUAL AND DOMESTIC PRESENT.

Stonehenge and Durrington Walls Midwinter feasting – Durrington Walls southern circle aligned to midwinter sunrise, complementary to Stonehenge alignment of avenue and stone circle towards midwinter sunset. Faunal evidence provided here along with discovery of new alignments suggest that ritual, social and economic realms of the two sites were entwined. This goes against the traditional view that ritual and domestic sites were separate entities in the Late Neolithic.

Conclusion Introduction of new methods Context maxillae predominant Maxillae linked to 1 st winter killing Would not have been possible to see this without use of maxillary tooth wear Issues for consideration High numbers of loose maxillary teeth – information is not currently very useable. Important to find a way of using loose teeth Variation in wear between upper and lower jaws

Acknowledgments Umberto Albarella – for continued patience and help throughout the project Sebastian Payne - for allowing us to expand on the method he used for the earlier material. Mike Parker-Pearson – for advice and insight into Durrington Walls Angela Trentacoste – for discussion throughout the process, feedback on my presentation, and for drawing my maxillary P4s Cleia and Beatrice – for feedback on my presentation.