Periapical lesions in hominids: abscesses on the maxilla of a two million ‐year‐old early Homo specimen

In this study, maxilla and mandible fragments from the South African fossil hominin collections were studied, including specimens assigned toHomo naledi,Paranthropus robustus,Australopithecus africanus and earlyHomo.Gorilla gorilla gorilla,Pan troglodytes andHomo sapiens were also studied for comparative purposes. Only one fossil hominin specimen displayed voids consistent with periapical lesions. The specimen, SK 847, is described as earlyHomo and has been dated to 2.3 ‐1.65MA. There is one definite periapical lesion and likely more with postmortem damage, all on the anterior aspect of the maxilla and associated with the incisors. The lesions originate from the apices of the incisor roots and are therefore unlikely to represent a systemic disease such as multipl e myeloma. The one well preserved lesion was likely an abscess rather than a cyst or granuloma, with a rounded thickened rim around the lesion. These lesions in an earlyHomo specimen highlight that this individual used their anterior dentition extensively, to the point that the pulp chambers were exposed on multiple teeth. This is one of the earliest hominin examples of periapical lesions and shows that this individual was able to cope with potentially several concurrent abscesses, clearly surviving for an extended period. Periapical lesions are relatively common in the great ape (P. troglodytes: 1.99%;G. gorilla: 1.86%) and human samples (2.50%), but absent in large samples ofP. robustus andA. africanus (n=0/373 t...
Source: International Journal of Osteoarchaeology - Category: Science Authors: Tags: SHORT REPORT Source Type: research