Honors Theses
Date of Award
Summer 8-24-2024
Document Type
Undergraduate Thesis
Department
Health, Exercise Science, and Recreation Management
First Advisor
Carolyn Freiwald
Second Advisor
Christine Lee
Third Advisor
Matthew Murray
Relational Format
Dissertation/Thesis
Abstract
Perceptions of beauty and health are embedded within everyday actions, even a simple smile. How do dental modification practices among the Classic Maya from Ambergris Caye, Belize relate to these perceptions and a person’s identity and status? This thesis analyzes the practice of notching, filing, and placing inlays in maxillary incisors and canines through a qualitative analysis of Classic period AD 250-1000 Maya teeth from the sites of San Juan and Chac Balam. A lack of patterns related to sex, socioeconomic status, and the type of modification in the dentition of five individuals, including two males, two females and one person of unspecified sex, including one adolescent, suggest that the practice of dental modification may have related to a ritual marking a transformative stage in the Maya person’s life, as suggested by research in other parts of Mesoamerica. We can relate past dental modifications to modern ones in US society, like braces and veneers, and our perceptions of the perfect smile.
Recommended Citation
Kelly, Katherine, "Dental Modification among the Classic Maya of Chac Balam and San Juan, Ambergris Caye, Belize" (2024). Honors Theses. 3159.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/3159
Ambergris Caye, Belize Burial Site Romero (1970)
Data Comparisons - Sheet1.pdf (37 kB)
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Included in
Archaeological Anthropology Commons, Biological and Physical Anthropology Commons, Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons
Comments
I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to my parents, brother, thesis advisors, and the University of Mississippi for their unwavering support and guidance throughout my thesis journey. Your encouragement and belief in me have been invaluable, and I am deeply thankful for everything you have done to help me achieve this milestone.