1. Dental Status of Napoleon's Great Army's (1812) Mass Burial of Soldiers in Vilnius: Childhood Peculiarities and Adult Dietary Habits
- Author
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Zydrune Palubeckaite, Yann Ardagna, Michel Signoli, Catherine Rigeade, Olivier Dutour, Rimantas Jankauskas, Y. Macia, Department of Anatomy, History and Anthropology, Vilnius University [Vilnius], UMR 6578 : Anthropologie Bio-Culturelle (UAABC), and Université de la Méditerranée - Aix-Marseille 2-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
- Subjects
Archeology ,Napoleonic Wars ,Military service ,[SHS.ANTHRO-BIO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Biological anthropology ,Dentistry ,Oral health ,[SHS]Humanities and Social Sciences ,stomatognathic system ,Carious teeth ,medicine ,Tooth loss ,0601 history and archaeology ,enamel hypoplasia ,060101 anthropology ,060102 archaeology ,business.industry ,Calculus (dental) ,dental status ,06 humanities and the arts ,Enamel hypoplasia ,medicine.disease ,Dental Attrition ,Hypoplasia ,stomatognathic diseases ,Anthropology ,medicine.symptom ,business ,diet ,Demography - Abstract
International audience; A mass grave of the soldiers of Napoleon's Great Army, containing no less than 3269 individuals who died during the retreat from Russia in December 1812, was uncovered during an archaeological rescue excavation in 2002 in Vilnius, Lithuania. General dental analysis, including that of dental wear, tooth loss, caries, calculus, and periodontal diseases and abscesses, was used to evaluate the oral health status and possible dietary patterns of individuals who represented recruits from almost all of Western and Central Europe. Growth conditions in childhood were studied by scoring of linear enamel hypoplasia. In all, 293 individuals (6528 teeth) were selected for the analysis; 20–30 year old males made up the majority of the sample. Their general dental status is characteristic of young individuals: low dental attrition and antemortem tooth loss, as well as low prevalence of calculus and abscesses. The caries rate was average compared with late Medieval/early industrial populations and typical for individuals with diverse diets. However, a considerable amount of pulp caries and a high number of carious teeth in some individuals indicate consumption of cariogenic products (e.g. sugar, sweet drinks) and poor oral hygiene. The frequency and severity of hypoplasia was lower compared with other populations of that time, suggesting the selection of the fittest individuals for military service; this correlates with the historically known selection criteria of that period.
- Published
- 2006