Bioarchaeology of affluence: Gold plate dentures as conspicuous consumption in the 19th century US South
Main Article Content
Keywords
Gold plate dentures, Bioarchaeology of affluence, Conspicuous consumption, Class & Identity
Abstract
The first examples of gold plate dentures recovered from an archaeological context are presented. The field of archaeology has a robust literature on the notion of “conspicuous consumption,” bioarchaeology, in contrast, has focused class-based research on differential measures of health, with an emphasis on poverty indicators rather than affluence. Recent bioarchaeological workers have suggested the mouth as a nexus for identity and class representation. This study presents gold plate dentures as a bioarchaeological artifact that reflects affluency and conspicuous consumption. Through the process of mastication, dentures interact directly with alveolar tissues and, simultaneously, serve purposes of functionality as well as markers of affluence and identity.
References
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Carolan, M. (2005). The conspicious body: Capitalism, consumerism, class and consumption. Worldviews: Global Religions, Culture, and Ecology, 9(1), 82-111.
DeWitte, S. N., Hughes-Morey, G., Bekvalac, J., & Karsten, J. (2016). Wealth, health and frailty in industrial-era London. Annals of human biology, 43(3), 241-254.
Donaldson, J. A. (2012). The use of gold in dentistry: an historical overview. Part 2. Journal of the History of Dentistry, 60(3), 134-147.
Donaldson, J. A. (1980). The use of gold in dentistry: An historical overview. Part I. Gold bulletin, 13(3), 117-124.
French, M. D. (1854). Report upon the Rise, Progress and Prospects of Mechanical Dentistry. The American Journal of Dental Science, 4(4), 531-51.
Gerard-Little, P. A., Moutner, A. K., Jordan, K. A., & Rogers, M. B. (2016). The production of affluence in Central New York: the archaeology and history of Geneva’s White Springs Manor, 1806–1951. Historical Archaeology, 50, 36-64.
Hilson, S. (2023). Dental Anthropology, 2nd ed. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Heinrich, A. R. (2014). Cherubs or Putti? Gravemarkers demonstrating conspicuous consumption and the rococo fashion in the eighteenth century. International Journal of Historical Archaeology, 18, 37-64.
Hosek, L., Warner-Smith, A. L., & Watson, C.C. (2020). The body politic and the citizen’s mouth: Oral health and dental care in nineteenth-century Manhattan. Historical Archaeology, 54, 138-159.
Junker, H. (1929). Giza, Bericht über Grabungen aufdem Friedhof des Alten Reiches. Wien, Leipzig.
Ladha, K., & Verma, M. (2011). 19th Century Denture Base Materials Revisited. Journal of the History of Dentistry, 59(1), 1-11.
Marklein, K. E., & Crews, D. E. (2022). Highs and lows of frailty: skeletal frailty differentials among socioeconomic groups in Postmedieval London. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 14(3), 1-22.
Mathena-Allen, S., & Zuckerman, M. K. (2020). Embodying industrialization: inequality, structural violence, disease, and stress in working-class and poor British women. In L.A. Tremblay and S. Reedy (Eds.), The Bioarchaeology of Structural Violence: A Theoretical Framework for Industrial Era Inequality (pp. 53-79). Springer Press.
Matthews, C. N., Leone, M. P., & Jordan, K. A. (2002). The political economy of archaeological cultures: Marxism and American historical archaeology. Journal of social archaeology, 2(1), 109-134.
Mays, S., Ives, R., & Brickley, M. (2009). The effects of socioeconomic status on endochondral and appositional bone growth, and acquisition of cortical bone in children from 19th century Birmingham, England. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 140(3), 410-416.
Newman, S. L., Gowland, R. L., & Caffell, A. C. (2019). North and south: A comprehensive analysis of non‐adult growth and health in the industrial revolution (AD 18th–19th C), England. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 169(1), 104-121.
Phillips, S. M. (2016). Bioarchaeology of a Kentucky Pioneer Family: The Vardeman-Holmes-Stephenson Cemetery Project, Lincoln County, Kentucky. Ohio Valley Historical Archaeology, 26, 132-41.
Phillips, S. M. (2010). Bioarchaeology of the Holmes-Vardeman-Stephenson Cemetery Project: Report to the KY Transportation Cabinet. Unpublished report submitted to the Program for Archaeological Research, UK/Human Osteology Lab, Indiana State University.
Proskauer, C. (1955). Earliest porcelain teeth in America. Bulletin of the History of Dentistry, 3(3), 1-2.
Ruhl, S. (2012). The scientific exploration of saliva in the post-proteomic era: from database back to basic function. Expert Rev Proteomics 9(1), 85-96.
Sprau, R. (1910). History of Kentucky Dentistry 1636-1910. Kentucky Dental Association, Lexington.
Veblen, T. (1899). The theory of the leisure class: An economic study of institutions. B. W. Huebsch, New York.
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Aug 9, 2024
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Phillips S. Bioarchaeology of affluence: Gold plate dentures as conspicuous consumption in the 19th century US South. JBR [Internet]. 2024 Aug. 9 [cited 2024 Dec. 21];2(2):e2024007. Available from: https://mail.mattioli1885journals.com/index.php/JBR/article/view/15990
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Short Report: Museum
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
How to Cite
1.
Phillips S. Bioarchaeology of affluence: Gold plate dentures as conspicuous consumption in the 19th century US South. JBR [Internet]. 2024 Aug. 9 [cited 2024 Dec. 21];2(2):e2024007. Available from: https://mail.mattioli1885journals.com/index.php/JBR/article/view/15990