Summary

Tooth remains of a child aged 3 to 5 years, from the short cist cemetery at West Water Reservoir, West Linton, Peeblesshire, Early Bronze Age

Accession Number

X.1995.93.6

Other references

Original description

Finds from excavations at West Water Reservoir, West Linton, Peeblesshire. Type of site: Short cist cemetery. Date: Early Bronze Age. Finds from the Early Bronze Age cemetery (area A). [EQ 1032]. Teeth, cist 3 (= sf 50). Tooth remains at the west end of the cist were those of a child aged 3-5 years. Their displacement suggests the body faced south. Although some enamel fragments from this cist are larger than those from cist 1, there is no intact crown shell, nor even an intact occlusal surface. Some fragments are however sufficiently large to permit tentative identifications. Three fragments from occlusal surfaces of posterior teeth are more likely to have come from deciduous molars than from permanent teeth. Very slight wear shows that the teeth had erupted but had not been in function for long. Many small fragments are from the sides of posterior tooth crowns. Two different enamel thicknesses present, indicating that both deciduous and permanent molars were present in this dentition. One cluster of fragments represents the labial and lingual surfaces of a group of mandibular permanent incisors which were closely crowded together, indicating that they were still lying within the bone of the mandible. The best preserved molar occlusal fragment probably belonged to a mandibular second deciduous molar. The slight degree of attrition suggests an age at death of c. 3-5 years. The presence of little worn first deciduous molars and of unerupted mandibular permanent incisors would be in accordance with such an estimate.

Associated person/people (e.g. excavator/former collection)

None

Discovery / field collection

Date of discovery

Not recorded

Method (e.g. excavation)

Excavated

Place (i.e. location of discovery)

West Water Reservoir, West Linton, Peeblesshire, Scotland, Northern Europe

Grid reference

Not recorded

Acquisition

Acquisition date

1995

Acquisition source (i.e. name of donor)

Queen's and Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer

Acquisition source role (e.g. donor)

Agent

Image

None