Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in Eastern Sudan.
The contribution of dental anthropology 


Giusy Capasso
Specializing student, University of Padova, Italy; IAEES (Italian Archaeological Expedition to the Eastern Sudan of the University of Naples “L’Orientale” and ISMEO) member.

Since 1980, the Italian Archaeological Expedition to the Eastern Sudan aims at reconstructing the past of this region whose cultural sequence goes from the 6th millennium BC to the 1st millennium AD. 
For this area, the archaeological evidence dates the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition to the 4th millennium BC. Ongoing bioarchaeological studies, encompassing anthropological, archaeobotanical and archeozoological data, are actively contributing in understanding the bio-cultural effects of this phenomenon. The anthropological analyses, focused on the comparative study of the dental samples from the Mesolithic site of UA50 (5th millennium BC) and the Neolithic one of K1 (3rd millennium BC), show an increase in oral pathologies in the latter phase, in line with the archaeological and bioarchaeological evidence of a change in subsistence activities: for Mesolithic times, the exploitation of gastropods was recorded, while, evidence for the Neolithic K1 points to a regular introduction of domesticated vegetables in the diets, with a subsequent increase of carbohydrate consumption, one of the key factors in the onset of oral pathologies.
This first evidence will be further investigated by adding more samples from future excavation campaigns and by analyzing dental calculus inclusions in order to obtain more specific information on the diet of these human groups.

07 - Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in Eastern Sudan. The contribution of dental anthropology