Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2024, Anthropology

Across three articles, this dissertation analyzes patterns of dental defect formation and childhood physiological stress within the population of Neolithic Catalhoyuk (ca. 7100-5950 BCE), in order to contribute to a better understanding of biological, temporal, and social variation within this important early “megasite” community. Article one addresses biological questions with important methodological implications regarding the impact of linear enamel hypoplasia (LEH) defects on inter- and intra-population variability in relationships between incremental enamel microstructures. Relationships between perikymata (PK) periodicity and distribution were tested from high-definition epoxy replicas and histological thin-sections of unworn mandibular canines (n = 15) with high LEH prevalence from Catalhoyuk. Findings re-affirm the existence of significant inter-population variability and suggest that high LEH prevalence likely increases PK distribution variability and weakens relationships with periodicity. PK distribution-based methods may nevertheless help narrow likely periodicity ranges and improve microstructure-based chronological age estimation accuracy even in highly LEH-impacted samples. To better understand relationships between population aggregation and physiological stress in early human settlements, Article two tests whether LEH prevalence or timing change significantly over time alongside population levels at Neolithic Catalhoyuk. LEH defect frequency scores (n = 109), defect-per-individual (DPI, n = 44), and defect initiation age (DIA, n = 44) were collected from epoxy canine replicas. LEH measures did not differ significantly by sex or age-at-death, nor did they significantly change over time in parallel with population size. Developmental stress episodes were very common (DPI: all defects M = 11, pronounced defects M = 6; DIA: all defect M = 3.9 years, pronounced defects M = 4.0 years), with 100% of observable individuals experiencing at least one de (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Clark Spencer Larsen (Advisor); Debbie Guatelli-Steinberg (Advisor); Mark Hubbe (Committee Member) Subjects: Ancient Civilizations; Archaeology; Histology; Human Remains; Near Eastern Studies; Physical Anthropology