A Békés Megyei Múzeumok Közleményei 24-25. (Békéscsaba, 2003)
Hadak Útján XIII. A népvándorlás kor fiatal kutatóinak konferenciája Gyula, 2002. szeptember 17–19. - Évinger Sándor: The paleostomatological investigation of the anthropological findings from the Avar period cemeteries of Toponár and Fészerlak
A Toponár és Fészerlak avar kori temetők népességének vizsgálata The paleostomatological investigation of the anthropological findings from the Avar period cemeteries of Toponár and Fészerlak - Sándor Évinger Resume The anthropological findings of two cemeteries from the late Avar period (Toponár and Fészerlak, Hungary) were examined from the aspect of dental health in this study. Both cemeteries derive from the 8 th century. According to the earlier anthropological studies and the archeological findings, the inhabitants of the two cemeteries were anthropologically similar to each other and they shared the same culture, but those who were buried at Fészerlak represented the lower classes of the Avar society and the people of Toponár belonged to the higher ranks in this system. We tried to determine the level of dental health in both populations and then we compared them. With these data we made an attempt to give information about the nutritional habits and the living conditions of these people. We also wanted to find out whether there were any differences in the examined paleostomatological characters (and in the way of life or in the way of nutrition) between the two socially different people. Only those with permanent dentition (the juvenile, adult, mature and senile males and females) were drawn into the examination. The sample size was 70 individuals in the case of Toponár and 96 individuals in the case of Fészerlak. The frequency and progress of carious lesions, cysts and abscesses, the number of premortem lost teeth and the level of abrasion in the case of the full dentititon were registered. The number of incisors and canines with enamel hypoplasia was determined, too. The data were compared with x 2-probe. The statistical analyses were carried out among the different age-groups and sexes within the populations and between the two series. The general status of dentition was characterised with several dental indices (CE, CRE, advanced CRE) in both populations. The patological alterations were very frequent among the inhabitants of Toponár and Fészerlak. The number of carious lesions was particularly high. The possible reasons for this result were the lack of dental hygiene and the carbohydraterich nutrition. We couldn't find any differences in the examined paleostomatological characters between the two series with the exception of the enamel hypoplasia which was significantly more frequent in the sample of Fészerlak. The possible cause of this result was that the inhabitants of Fészerlak (the people who represented the lower ranks) could eat less proteins and vitamins, which are very important for the proper development of teeth, than that of Toponár. Évinger Sándor Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum 1083 Budapest, Ludovika tér 2. evingers@freema.il . hu 439
