Sub‐Adult Life History at Roonka Flat: A Dental Microwear Approach to Understanding Traditional Australian Aboriginal Aging Processes

Abstract

Little is known about huntergatherer subadult life ways. Ethnographic and ethnohistoric studies demonstrate aging related transformations take place in traditional Aboriginal populations. This affects the roles and lifestyles of subadults. These processes vary both temporally and spatially. Therefore we do not know exactly how they shape the life course for Ngaiawang tribe members (represented by the Roonka Flat skeletal collection). The research intent of this project was to uncover whether subadult aging, within the context of Roonka Flat, follows similar phasetransition characteristics (infancy to childhood, juvenility, adolescence, and adulthood) of other huntergatherer groups. Dental microwear patterns form on the enamel surface as a result of mechanical use. This includes dietary and nondietary activities that occur from biological and sociocultural influence. Dental activity varies throughout subadult life, forming the hypothesis that dental microwear corresponds with each subadult phase. Microwear analysis involves counting and measuring the shape, form, and orientation of microwear features. The research objectives were twofold: first to explore the relationship between dental microwear variables and developmental aging, and second to evaluate the applicability of the biosocial subadult phase models within the Roonka Flat context. This secondary objective required categorising skeletal individuals into phasegroups based on their developmental age, biological profiles of aging, and traditional Aboriginal ethnographies. Statistical analysis then addresses the relationships between dental microwear variables, and both developmental and biocultural aging processes. The microwear trends that emerged suggested the dental activities and dietary exploits of Ngaiawang subadults included little to no teethastool use and high proportion of meat (probably riverine fauna) consumption within overall diets. Statistical analyses however rejected the typical biological phasemodel for transitions within Ngaiawang subadulthood. Juvenility appeared to lack significance contextually, and subsequently from a dental microwear perspective, implying this phase was not bioculturally distinct from childhood. Further analysis supported the ethnographicbased transitionmodel: infancy, childhood (absorbing both child and juvenile cases), adolescence, and adulthood. The adapted model proved more recognisable within the Roonka Flat context, directing the requirement to assess its applicability within other Aboriginal contexts.