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The earliest dental prosthesis in Celtic Gaul? The case of an Iron Age burial at Le Chêne, France

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Guillaume Seguin ,
Emmanuel d'Incau ,
Pascal Murail  and
Bruno Maureille
Guillaume Seguin*
Affiliation:
Preventive funerary archaeology unit, Archéosphère, 20 rue Suffren, 33300 Bordeaux, France (Email: g.seguin@archeosphere.com)
Emmanuel d'Incau
Affiliation:
UMR 5199 PACEA-A3P, Anthropologie des populations passées et présentes, Université Bordeaux 1, Bâtiment B8, Avenue des Facultés, 33405 Talence Cedex, France (Email: p.murail@pacea.u-bordeaux1.fr; b.maureille@pacea.u-bordeaux1.fr) UFR des Sciences Odontologiques, Université Bordeaux 2, 16–20 cours de la Marne, 33802 Bordeaux Cedex, France (Email: emmanuel.dincau@u-bordeaux.fr)
Pascal Murail
Affiliation:
UMR 5199 PACEA-A3P, Anthropologie des populations passées et présentes, Université Bordeaux 1, Bâtiment B8, Avenue des Facultés, 33405 Talence Cedex, France (Email: p.murail@pacea.u-bordeaux1.fr; b.maureille@pacea.u-bordeaux1.fr)
Bruno Maureille
Affiliation:
UMR 5199 PACEA-A3P, Anthropologie des populations passées et présentes, Université Bordeaux 1, Bâtiment B8, Avenue des Facultés, 33405 Talence Cedex, France (Email: p.murail@pacea.u-bordeaux1.fr; b.maureille@pacea.u-bordeaux1.fr)
*
*Author for correspondence
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Abstract

The discovery of an iron pin in place of an upper incisor tooth from a La Tène burial at Le Chêne in northern France may represent one of the earliest examples of a dental implant in Western Europe. The body was that of a young woman who had been buried in a richly furnished timber chamber. The iron pin may have been inserted during life to replace a lost tooth, or before burial to restore the visual integrity of the corpse. The concept of the dental prosthesis may have been taken from the Etruscans by returning Celtic mercenaries, although dental implants of this specific kind have not been found in Etruscan contexts.

Keywords

Celtic GaulLa TèneEtruscansdental prosthesisprehistoric dentistry
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 88 , Issue 340 , 01 June 2014 , pp. 488 - 500
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2014 

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