Human children grow at a uniquely slow pace by comparison with other mammals. When and where did this schedule evolve? Have technological advances, farming and cities had any effect upon it? Addressing these and other key questions in palaeoanthropology and bioarchaeology, Simon Hillson examines the unique role of teeth in preserving detailed microscopic records of development throughout childhood and into adulthood. The text critically reviews theory, assumptions, methods and literature, providing the dental histology background to anthropological studies of both growth rate and growth disruption. Chapters also examine existing studies of growth rate in the context of human evolution and primate development more generally, together with implications for life history. The final chapters consider how defects in the tooth development sequence shed light on the consequences of biological and social transitions, contributing to our understanding of the evolution of modern human development and cognition

Acknowledgements page vii

1 Why development and why teeth? 1

2 Development schedule, body size and brain size 5

How development is studied 5

Human growth in body size 6

Body ize growth in non-human primates 18

Growth in different systems of the body 24

Summary 25

3 How teeth grow in living primates 28

Process of dental development 28

Issues in tudying dental development 32

Dental eru ption 42

Tooth forma tion 49

Summary 68

4 Microscopic markers of growth in dental tissues 70

The tooth urface 70

Microscopy of the crown urface 76

Structures seen in sections of teeth 88

Summary 110

5 Building dental development sequences 112

Underlying pri nci pies 112

Methodological is ue 123

Development chrono logies for living and fo sil primates 128

Summary 147

6 Human evolution, pace of development and life history 149

Life history 149

Characteristic features of human life history 150

Life history of fossil primates 153

Weaning, giving birth and the expansion of post-canine teeth 155

Fast and slow mammals and Schultz's rule of eruption 157

Life history, development and cognition in primates 158

Summary 159

7 Dental markers of disease and malnutrition 162

Hypoplastic defects 162

Wilson bands, pathological striae or accentuated lines 174

Recording enamel hypoplasia by simple surface observation 176

Building sequences of defects 181

Causes of enamel hypoplasia I 4

Summary 195

8 Health, stress and evolution: case studies in bioarchaeology and palaeoanthropology 19

Health, stress and prevalence 198

Case studies in bioarchaeology and palaeoanthropology 205

Summary 225

9 Conclusions 228

Appendix A:Tables 23 1

Appendix B: Technical information 261

References 273

Index 302

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