Companion to Dental Anthropology

A Companion to Dental Anthropology presents a collection of original readings addressing all aspects and subdisciplines of the field, from its "roots" and evolution through to the latest scientific research. Essays are contributed by over 30 scholars and practitioners from a variety of dental anthropology specialties and subfields, who reveal their expertise and share their latest research results. Following an introduction to dental anthropology, the chapters cover topics relating to dental evolution and the human dentition; dental growth, development, and histology; morphometric variations in populations and individuals; dental health and disease; and a group of final readings pointing to new directions in dental anthropological research. A Companion to Dental Anthropology is an essential resource for all aspects of the complex biology of teeth.Joel D. Irish is Professor of Bioarchaeology in the Research Centre in Evolutionary Anthropology and Palaeoecology at Liverpool John Moores University UK, and Professor Emeritus in the Anthropology Department at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He is former Associate Editor of the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, and his publications focus on dental nonmetric variation and biological affinity.G. Richard Scott is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Nevada Reno, and Professor Emeritus at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, where he taught for 24 years. He has published widely on issues relating to tooth crown and root morphology and biological affinity.