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These types of defects are very common in equid molars. They are not likely to be hypoplasia since they are found in the coronal cementum covering the tooth. To be sure about this you would need to section the tooth and look closely at the underlying enamel histology. If you look very closely, they do not have rounded margins but instead quite sharp ones and the cementum almost looks etched. My thoughts for a long time have been that these are lines which reflect the original position of the gingival margin (since these teeth are continually growing, they eventually move up and away from the gingiva). I'm pretty sure they reflect etching of the softer cementum by acidic saliva - a result probably in major swings in dietary intake perhaps causing changes in ph of the saliva. The darker calculus/food detritus filling them (and making them darker) are secondary factors. Keith Dr Keith Dobney Dept Archaeology Durham University Science Site South Road Durham DH1 3LE UK Tel: +44 191 334 1119 Fax: +44 191 334 1101 email: [log in to unmask] Details: www.dur.ac.uk/archaeology/staff/?id=1221 ________________________________ From: Analysis of animal remains from archaeological sites on behalf of Michael MacKinnon Sent: Thu 31/01/2008 17:26 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [ZOOARCH] equid dental pathology The following link displays a uniform groove across the buccal edge of some donkey teeth, from a late-antique site in southern Italy. Any thoughts? http://www.alexandriaarchive.org/icaz/icazForum/viewtopic.php?t=926 I suspect it has something to do with calculus deposition along the gum line (the mandible has not survived in this case - well it's in hundreds of scrappy, tiny pieces), which has aggravated some caries to erode away part of the tooth. The line extends around both the buccal and lingual edges. Still, the line had be thinking about enamel hypoplasia in equids (although the uniform nature of the line here rules that out for this case). Does anyone know of cases of enamel hypoplasia in equids, or is the situation much like in bovids where this condition is difficult to see macroscopically because of the cementum layer covering the tooth (not to mention calculus depostion which can also obscure things - and calculus seems to be common among many bovids - at least most of the ones I've seen from Greek and Roman sites around the Mediterranean). Thanks Michael MacKinnon -------------------------------------------- Dr. Michael MacKinnon Department of Anthropology University of Winnipeg 515 Portage Avenue Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 2E9 Canada phone: (204) 786-9752 e-mail: [log in to unmask]