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Recent analysis of a mandible (lower jawbone) from an individual buried inside the East Kirk of St Nicholas in Aberdeen has identified a rare example of late medieval/early post-medieval dentistry: the earliest evidence of dental interventions yet found in Scotland.
The bone was originally discovered in 2006, during excavations by the Aberdeen City Council Archaeological Unit ahead of the redevelopment of the East Kirk (see CA 258). The project uncovered around 900 skeletons, along with 3.5 metric tonnes of disarticulated bones, including this mandible.
With the rest of the body missing, it is difficult to paint a complete picture of the individual to whom the bone belonged, but the mandible’s very robust nature, including its squared mental eminence (chin), suggests he was male. The level of wear on the teeth, compared to similar patterns seen on other, more complete, skeletons from the East Kirk, indicates that he was roughly middle-aged. Radiocarbon dating, meanwhile, places him between AD 1460 and 1679.
Like most people living in this period, the man’s oral health was not terrific. Cavities were present on multiple teeth, including three examples where more than 50% of the crown had been destroyed. Despite this level of tooth decay, though, he had only lost one tooth during life – the rightmost of his two front teeth – and it is this which seems to have spurred his dentistry. Bridging the gap created by the loss of the tooth is a fine gold wire that is attached to its neighbours, being looped around the incisor immediately to the right, and twisted together in front of the one to the left. It is thought that this construction was intended to either help prevent the loss of the tooth that it is looped around, or to provide a scaffold for a now-lost prosthetic tooth.
Analysis of the gold’s composition suggests that it was at least 20 carats; its cost, and that of the procedure itself, points to this being a man of some financial means – as does the fact that he was buried inside the East Kirk, which was generally considered a higher-status location. As the paper, published in the British Dental Journal (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41415-025-9107-3), explains: ‘Given the social importance of one’s appearance during the late medieval and early modern era, as an outward expression of moral character, it is likely the reasons for undergoing this procedure extended beyond retaining masticatory abilities and oral function.’
Text: Kathryn Krakowka / Image: courtesy of Dr Rebecca Crozier
