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All humans share certain components of tooth structure, but show variation in size and morphology around this shared pattern. The Anthropology of Modern Human Teeth presents a worldwide synthesis of the global variation in tooth morphology in recent populations. Research has advanced on many fronts since The Anthropology of Modern Human Teeth of the first edition, which has become a seminal work on the subject. This revised and updated edition introduces new ideas in dental genetics and ontogeny and summarizes major historical problems addressed by dental morphology. The detailed descriptions of 29 dental variables are fully updated with current data and include details of a new web-based application for using crown and root morphology to evaluate ancestry in forensic cases. A new chapter describes what constitutes a modern human dentition in the context of the hominin fossil record.
Preface
Prologue
1. Dental Anthropology and Morphology
2. Description and Classification of Permanent Crown and Root Traits
3. Biological Considerations: Ontogeny, Asymmetry, Sex Dimorphism, and Inter-Trait Association
4. Genetics of Morphological Trait Expression
5. Geographic Variation in Tooth Crown and Root Morphology
6. Establishing Method and Theory for Using Dental Morphology in Reconstructions of Human Population History
7. Dental Morphology and Population History
8. Fossil Hominin Dental Morphology with a Focus on Homo sapiens
Epilogue
Appendix: Tables of Data
References
Index
"This is the second edition of The Anthropology of Modern Human Teeth: Dental Morphology and its Variation in Recent Human Populations (1997). Scott and Turner, authors of the first edition, studied dental variants and the two major patterns of Mongoloid dental variation, Sundadont and Sinodont, were described. Their dental trait evaluation system, the ASUDAS (Arizona State University Dental Anthropology System), has become an essential tool for dental anthropological researchers worldwide. In the first edition, morphological variations in dental traits were described. In the second edition, the ontogenetic, genetic and evolutionary aspects of these traits have also been covered. The authors also describe how advances in dental studies will become even more dramatic over the next twenty years. This is a classic text that is well written, beautifully illustrated and extensively referenced, and it will undoubtedly become a compass for younger researchers responsible for the next generation of dental anthropological research."
– Shintaro Kondo, Nihon University, Japan
"Twenty years was well worth the wait. The authors' expertise complement each other perfectly while paying tribute to the late Christy Turner whose circum-Pacific research inspired so many to take up the buff yellow plaques. Revised and updated with new information on dental genetics and hominin dentition, The Anthropology of Modern Human Teeth provides a soup to nuts history of the field of dental morphology, while also providing clear guidance on future prospects. Its completeness provides the novice dental anthropologist with all that is needed to begin, and the expert a much needed survey and summary of the last six decades of work. From forensic applications, to multiscalar bioarchaeological research, to the intricacies of hominin crown and EDJ morphology, there is something here for everyone with even a passing interest in what teeth can tell us about the past and present."
– Christopher Stojanowski, Arizona State University
Reviews of the first edition:
"I found this book an absolute delight [...] it was packed with useful and interesting material."
– D. R. Johnson, Dentomaxillofacial Radiology
"[...] a book that will interest a general biological anthropological readership as well as those involved in the study of modern human teeth."
– Journal of Biosocial Science
"[...] the first worldwide synthesis of the global variation in tooth structure in recent population."
– Human Evolution
