[Sca-cooks] Using tooth tarter to determine medieval (among other) diets

[Stefan li Rous]

 From the MedievalTrivia list. An interesting article on using tarter  
to get evidence of ancient, including medieval diets.

<<< Many ancient human teeth, including specimens tens of thousands of  
years old, still hold onto tiny pieces of food -- and even bacteria.  
Anthropologists are studying the tartar attached to ancient human  
teeth to learn more about the plants people ate and the pathogens they  
carried long ago.>>>

<<< Seeds and grains often degrade slowly and animal bones typically  
last even longer. But finding direct evidence of vegetable consumption  
is more difficult. Vegetables such as cabbage and carrots were  
important foods in medieval Europe, but evidence to confirm their  
consumption is hard to come by. Reconstructing the full diet for  
people living in earlier periods is even more difficult. >>>

On dental plaque (mostly) and Neanderthal diet:

http://phys.org/news/2012-05-dental-calculus-clues-ancient-human.html

Stefan

--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas          StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/marksharris
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****