3D imaging of teeth unveils diet of medieval children

Scientists have for the first time used 3D microscopic imaging to study the teeth of children who lived between the 11th and 15th centuries, in order to learn how diet varied in kids of poor and wealthy families in medieval UK.
Biological anthropologists discovered a new way of examining the fragile teeth of children from medieval times without damaging them.
By using 3D microscopic imaging, researchers from the University of Kent in UK and University of Indianapolis in US have been able to safely reconstruct the diet of children who would have lived next door to Canterbury Cathedral when the English poet Geoffrey Chaucer was writing his famous Tales.

The 3D technology - known as dental micro-wear texture analysis - involved measuring microscopic changes in the surface topography of the teeth.
This is the first time that this technology has been applied to children's teeth, researchers said.
By using this technology researchers including Patrick Mahoney from University of Kent were able to learn more about how diet varied among children from poor and wealthy families in medieval Canterbury.
Dietary reconstructions from ancient teeth are often destructive, but this technology offers a new way to access this information without damaging fragile teeth.
Applications of this technique will pioneer a new era in anthropological studies, opening up the dietary secrets of ancient children, and our fossil ancestors, Mahoney said.