Sequential isotopic analyses of tooth enamel have provided valuable insight into patterns of ancient mobility, diet, and climatic fluctuations. However, the conventional sampling strategy used in these studies does not closely follow the geometry of tooth growth development. One way to deal with this is to map microscopic dental growth in teeth samples and use these to guide in situ geochemical analyses of the enamel.

 

In this talk, Dr. Vaiglova will share the findings of a study in which she used this approach to analyse tooth enamel phosphate from teeth of wild boars recovered from a feasting deposit at Asiab, an Early Neolithic site in the Zagros Mountains. The results of this study show that although the environment surrounding the site was hospitable to wild boars, the animals used for feasting activities are unlikely to have originated from nearby locations. Instead, they suggest that the animals were transported to Asiab for the purposes of being used in the feast by communities dispersed across the landscape.

 

The talk will finish with a discussion of how we can use mathematical simulations of tooth growth to better understand the resolution of results obtained using hand-drilling methods and how we can use the in situ method and the ‘hand-drilling’ method in tandem in future research.

Dr. Vaiglova is a biomolecular archaeologist focused on exploring the impact of human-animal interactions on ancient landscapes. Lecturer in Archaeological Science, School of Archaeology and Anthropology at the Australian National University, Dr. Vaiglova is currently developing new ways of extracting geochemical data from animal teeth in order to reconstruct the environments in which the animals lived and understand how the animals’ lives were impacted by past societies.

Her research has contributed to knowledge on a range of diverse topics, from the development of farming in Neolithic Greece and Bronze Age China, to the settling of hyper-arid environments during the Byzantine period in the Southern Levant. During her doctorate studies, Petra was a Clarendon Scholar at the University of Oxford and a Pre-doctoral Fellow at the Malcolm H. Wiener Laboratory for Archaeological Science in Athens. She subsequently worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Haifa, the University of Connecticut, Washington University in St Louis, and Griffith University. Petra currently serves as an Associate Editor for the Journal of Archaeological Science.

She is particularly keen about statistical reform and has been active in training students and other researchers in moving from statistical significance to more informative estimation science. In 2024, Petra received an ANU Strategic Learning and Teaching Grant to redevelop the statistical training component of the Master’s of Archaeological and Evolutionary Science program at ANU. Petra enjoys sharing her passion for archaeology and science with the wider public. She gave an invited TEDx talk ‘An archaeologist’s view: how connectivity drove our human past’ and was featured on the Science ANU outreach video ‘What is the SHRIMP Lab?’. She was also spotlighted in a blog post titled ‘Meet Petra: Enthusiasm for Archaeology, Open Science, and Better Statistics’ on the statistical reform website: thenewstatistics.com.

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