Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T09:29:55.383Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The earliest dental prosthesis in Celtic Gaul? The case of an Iron Age burial at Le Chêne, France

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Guillaume Seguin ,
Emmanuel d'Incau ,
Pascal Murail  and
Bruno Maureille
Guillaume Seguin*
Affiliation:
Preventive funerary archaeology unit, Archéosphère, 20 rue Suffren, 33300 Bordeaux, France (Email: g.seguin@archeosphere.com)
Emmanuel d'Incau
Affiliation:
UMR 5199 PACEA-A3P, Anthropologie des populations passées et présentes, Université Bordeaux 1, Bâtiment B8, Avenue des Facultés, 33405 Talence Cedex, France (Email: p.murail@pacea.u-bordeaux1.fr; b.maureille@pacea.u-bordeaux1.fr) UFR des Sciences Odontologiques, Université Bordeaux 2, 16–20 cours de la Marne, 33802 Bordeaux Cedex, France (Email: emmanuel.dincau@u-bordeaux.fr)
Pascal Murail
Affiliation:
UMR 5199 PACEA-A3P, Anthropologie des populations passées et présentes, Université Bordeaux 1, Bâtiment B8, Avenue des Facultés, 33405 Talence Cedex, France (Email: p.murail@pacea.u-bordeaux1.fr; b.maureille@pacea.u-bordeaux1.fr)
Bruno Maureille
Affiliation:
UMR 5199 PACEA-A3P, Anthropologie des populations passées et présentes, Université Bordeaux 1, Bâtiment B8, Avenue des Facultés, 33405 Talence Cedex, France (Email: p.murail@pacea.u-bordeaux1.fr; b.maureille@pacea.u-bordeaux1.fr)
*
*Author for correspondence
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The discovery of an iron pin in place of an upper incisor tooth from a La Tène burial at Le Chêne in northern France may represent one of the earliest examples of a dental implant in Western Europe. The body was that of a young woman who had been buried in a richly furnished timber chamber. The iron pin may have been inserted during life to replace a lost tooth, or before burial to restore the visual integrity of the corpse. The concept of the dental prosthesis may have been taken from the Etruscans by returning Celtic mercenaries, although dental implants of this specific kind have not been found in Etruscan contexts.

Keywords

Celtic GaulLa TèneEtruscansdental prosthesisprehistoric dentistry
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 88 , Issue 340 , 01 June 2014 , pp. 488 - 500
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Amler, M.H. 1969. The time sequence of tissue regeneration in human extraction wounds. Journal of Oral Surgery 27: 309–18. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0030-4220(69)90357-0 Google Scholar
Andreasen, J.O., Sundström, B. & Ravn, J.J.. 1971. The effect of traumatic injuries to primary teeth on their permanent successors. Scandinavian Journal of Dental Research 79: 219–83. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0722.1971.tb02013.x Google Scholar
Atilla, G. 1993. A rare find in Anatolia. A tooth implant (mid sixth century BC). Journal of Oral Implantology 19(1): 54–57.Google Scholar
Baggieri, G. & Giacomo, M. Di. 2005. Odontoiatria dell'antichità in reperti osteo-dentari e archeologici. Roma: MelAMi.Google Scholar
Becker, M.J. 1995. Tooth evulsion among the ancient Etruscans: recycling in antiquity. Dental Anthropology Newsletter 9(3): 8–9.Google Scholar
Becker, M.J. 1999a. Ancient “dental implants”: a recently proposed example from France evaluated with other spurious examples. International Journal of Oral & Maxillofacial Implants 14: 19–29.Google Scholar
Becker, M.J. 1999b. Etruscan gold dental appliances: three newly “discovered” examples. American Journal of Archaeology 103: 103–11.Google Scholar
Brånemark, P.-I., Zarb, G.A. & Albrektsson, T.. 1985. Tissue-integrated prostheses: osseointegration in clinical dentistry. Chicago (IL): Quintessence.Google Scholar
Caliskan, M.K. & Pehlivan, Y.. 1996. Prognosis of root-fractured permanent incisors. Dental Traumatology 12: 129–36. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-9657.1996.tb00111.x Google Scholar
Charpy, J.-J. 1998. Les pratiques funéraires en Champagne au Ve siècle av. J.-C. Revue archéologique de Picardie 1: 99–109.Google Scholar
Charpy, J.-J. & Roualet, P.. 1991. Les Celtes en Champagne: cinq siècles d'histoire. Musee d' Épernay, 22 juin-3 novembre 1991. Épernay: Musée d' Épernay.Google Scholar
Crubézy, E., Murail, P., Girard, L. & Bernadou, J.-P.. 1998. False teeth of the Roman world. Nature 391: 29. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/34067 Google Scholar
Demoule, J-P. 1999. Pratiques funéraires et société. Chronologie et société dans les nécropoles celtiques de la culture Aisne-Marne du VIème au IIIème siècle avant notre ère. Supplément 15. Revue archéologique de Picardie 15: 179–216.Google Scholar
Irish, J.D. 2004. A 5500 years-old artificial human tooth from Egypt: a historical note. International Journal of Oral & Maxillofacial Implants 19: 645–47.Google Scholar
Irish, J.D., Kobusiewicz, M., Schild, R. & Wendorf, F.. 2003. Neolithic tooth replacement in two secondary burials from southern Egypt. Journal of Archaeological Science 30: 281–85. http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/jasc.2002.0835 Google Scholar
Kaurin, J. & Seguin, G.. 2013. La nécropole celtique du Chéne (Aube). Images de femmes du début du IIIe siècle avant. J.-C. Dijon: Éditions Universitaires de Dijon.Google Scholar
Kaya, S., Adiguzel, O., Yavuz, I., Tumen, E.C. & Akkus, Z.. 2010. Cone-beam dental computerize tomography for evaluating change of aging in the dimensions central superior incisor root canals. Medicina Oral, Patología Oral y Cirurgía Bucal 16(3): 463–66. http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.4317/medoral.16.e463 Google Scholar
Kruta, V. 2000. Les Celtes. Histoire et dictionnaire. Des origines à la romanisation et au christianisme. Paris: Robert Laffont.Google Scholar
Loomba, K., Loomba., A., Bains, R. & Bains, V.. 2010. A proposal for classification of tooth fractures based on treatment need. Journal of Oral Science 52(4): 517–29.Google Scholar
Lovejoy, C.O. 1985. Dental wear in the Libben population: its functional pattern and role in the determination of adult skeletal age at death. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 68: 47–56. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.1330680105 Google Scholar
Molnar, S. 1971. Human tooth wear, tooth function and cultural variability. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 34: 175–89. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.1330340204 Google Scholar
Monier, S., Monier, T. & Gourevitch, D.. 2008. L'art dentaire chez les Étrusques. Actualités Odonto-Stomatologique 243: 279–93. http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/AOS:2008035 Google Scholar
Murail, P., Bruzek, J. & Braga, J.. 1999. A new approach to sexual diagnosis in past populations. Practical adjustments from Van Vark's procedure. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 9: 39–53. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1099-1212(199901/02)9:1<39::AID-OA458>3.0.CO;2-V 3.0.CO;2-V>Google Scholar
Murail, P., Bruzek, J., Houët, F. & Cunha, E.. 2005. DSP: a tool for probabilistic sex diagnosis using worldwide variability in hip bone measurements. Bulletins et Mémoires de la Société d'Anthropologie de Paris 17(3-4): 167–76.Google Scholar
De Navarro, J.-M. 1955. A doctor's grave of the Middle La Tène Period from Bavaria. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 21: 231–48.Google Scholar
Powers, R. 1989. Operative dentistry in the second century BC. Paleopathology Newsletter 63: 13–14.Google Scholar
Ring, M.E. 1995. A thousand years of dental implants: a definitive history: part I. Compendium of Continuing Education in Dentistry 10: 1060–69.Google Scholar
Rozoy, J.-G. 1987. Les Celtes en Champagne. Les Ardennes au second Âge du fer: le Mont Troté, les Rouliers (Mémoires de la Société Archéologique Champenoise 4): 357–61. Charleville-Meézieères: J.G. Rozoy.Google Scholar
Schneider, H. 2000. La prothèse dentaire dans l'Antiquité. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Université René Descartes Paris 5.Google Scholar
Shuckburgh, E.S. (trans.). 1889. The Histories of Polybius. London & New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Somma, F., Castagnola, R., Bollino, D. & Marigo, L.. 2001. Oral inflammatory process and general health. Part 2: how does the periapical inflammatory process compromise general health? European Review for Medical and Pharmacological Sciences 15(1): 35–51.Google Scholar
Stead, I. & Rigby, V.. 1999. The Morel Collection: Iron Age antiquities from Champagne in the British Museum. London: British Museum.Google Scholar
Sullivan, M. 2001. Implant dentistry and the concept of osseointegration: a historical perspective. Journal of the Californian Dental Association 29(11): 737–45.Google Scholar
Vallois, H.-V. 1971. Le crâne-trophée capsien de Faïd Souar II Algérie (Fouilles Laplace, 1954). L'Anthropologie 75(3-4): 191–220.Google Scholar
Verger, S. 1997. L'incinération en urne métallique: un indicateur de contacts aristocratiques transalpins, in Brun, P. & Chaume, B. (ed.) Vix et les éphémères principautés celtiques: 223–38. Paris: Errance.Google Scholar
Welbury, R.R., Kinirons, M.J., Day, P., Humphreys, K. & Gregg, T.A.. 2002. Outcomes to root-fractured permanent incisors: a retrospective study. Pediatric Dental Journal 24: 98–102.Google Scholar
Zias, J. & Numeroff, K.. 1987. Operative dentistry in the second century BC. Journal of the American Dental Association 114: 665–66.Google Scholar