Dental Microwear Texture Analysis (DMTA)

Dental microwear texture analysis (DMTA) uses principles from surface metrology to measure surface roughness via scale-sensitive fractal analysis. Roughness is fine-scale, often microscopic, changes in surface elevation. In the image to the left of a tooth surface elevation model, blue areas are deeper and red/white areas are higher. Mastication is a primary way to alter tooth surface; DMTA takes into account the chewing process, its species-specific anatomical nuances in teeth and jaws and evolutionary histories. It also draws from tribology, which is the study of surfaces wearing against each other. In short, it is an interface between biology/anthropology and materials science.

DMTA

Developed by Peter Ungar of the University of Arkansas with assistance from Chris Brown, of WPI, DMTA is a vast improvement over previous methods of dental microwear study. The approach uses 3D representations of tooth micro-surfaces and scale-sensitive fractal analysis software, to visualize and compute surface characteristics. The DMTA variables developed by Ungar and colleagues are listed below (see Scott et al., 2005 and 2006), although additional variables and variable computations are being explored. In the end, DMTA is a unique, and non-destructive, means of elucidating the foods were introduced into the mouth. While it does not produce specific signatures for specific foods, it does provide enough insight to distinguish diets of humans (e.g., Schmidt et al. 2019) as well as a myriad of other species (see Ungar 2009).

Complexity (Asfc), surface ruggedness. More rugged surfaces have higher complexity values.

Anisotropy (epLsar 1.8), similarity of feature orientation. Higher anisotropy means greater similarity.

Textural Fill Volume (Tfv), the volume of surface lost to wear

Scale of Maximum Complexity (Smc), of the scales used to calculate complexity, it is the one with the highest complexity value

Heterogeneity, similarity of complexity by region of study area

Human DMTA data

Pre-colonial Indiana: Notice Mississippian group (maize farmer) has highest anisotropy and lowest complexity. Oliver, also a farming group, has DMTA values like pre-farming groups (Schmidt 2021)

Natufian, Neolithic, Levant: Notice the similarity in complexity and anisotropy despite the former predating agriculture. The transition to farming in this appears to be the domestication of what already was being consumed (Schmidt and Mahoney, n.d.).

Relevant Scholarship

Schmidt, C.W., D’Anastasio, R., Remy, A. J. (2025). Dietary Variation Among Herculaneum’s Victims of Mt. Vesuvius via Dental Microwear Texture Analysis. Accepted for publication in the American Journal of Biological Anthropology. 186(2), e70000.
Holmes, G., Moore, C.R., Schmidt, C.W. (2024). Characterizing Variation in Late Precontact Diets Using Dental Microwear Texture Analysis: A Caborn-Welborn Example. Accepted for publication in the Southeastern Journal of Archaeology. 43, 1-17.
Williams, F.L., Schmidt, C.W., Droke, J.L., Karriger, W.M., Becam, G., Smith, F.H., de Lumley, M-A. (2023). The diet of young Neandertals from France, Pech de l’Azé I and Hortus II, reconstructed using dental microwear texture analysis. Accepted for publication in the Bulletins et Mémoires de la Sociétéd’Anthropologie de Paris.
Schmidt, C.W. and Ungar P.S. (2023). Dental Microwear Analysis: Wear We Are Going, Wear We Have Been? In, Larsen C.S. (Ed.) Companion to Biological Anthropology. New York: Wiley.
Williams, F.L, Schmidt, C.W., Droke J.L., Neruda, P., Willman, J.C., Becam, G., de Lumley, M.A. (2021). Reconstructing the diet of Kůlna 1 from the Moravian karst (Czech Republic). Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology. 4: 20. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41982-021-00099-0.
Schmidt C.W. (2021). 12Fl73. Middle/Late Archaic Trophy-Taking from the Indiana aspect of the Falls of the Ohio River Region. In, Pollack D, Bader A (Eds.) Falls of the Ohio Archaeology. Kentucky Heritage Council.
Williams, F.L., Schmidt, C.W., Droke, J.L. (2020). Dietary reconstruction of Late Neolithic farmers of the Belgian Meuse basin using dental microwear texture analysis. Anthropologie et Prehistoire. 129/2018, 73-86.
Schmidt, C.W., Watson J.T. (2020). Introduction. In, Schmidt CW & Watson JT (Eds.), Dental Wear in Evolutionary and Biocultural Perspectives. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Schmidt, C.W., El Zaatari, S., Van Sessen. R. (2020). Dental Microwear Texture Analysis in Bioarchaeology. In, Schmidt CW & Watson JT, Dental Wear in Evolutionary and Biocultural Perspectives. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Droke J., Schmidt C.W., Williams F.L., Karriger W., Smith F.H., Gaël B., de Lumley M-A. (2020). Regional variability in diet between Northern European and Mediterranean Neandertals: Evidence from dental microwear texture analysis. In, Schmidt CW & Watson JT, Dental Wear in Evolutionary and Biocultural Perspectives. Amsterdam: Elsevier.

Da Gloria, P., Schmidt C.W. (2020). Dental microwear texture analyses of the Paleoamericans of Lagoa Santa, Central Brazil. In, Schmidt CW & Watson JT, Dental Wear in Evolutionary and Biocultural Perspectives. Amsterdam: Elsevier.

Kelly, C.D., Schmidt C.W., & D’Anastasio R. (2020). Considerations in the Study of Deciduous and Subadult Dental Microwear Texture. In, Schmidt C.W. & Watson J.T., Dental Wear in Evolutionary and Biocultural Perspectives. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Schmidt C.W., Remy A.J., Van Sessen R., Willman J.C., Scott R.M., Mahoney P., Beach J.J., McKinley J., D’Anastasio R., Chiu L.W., Buzon M.R., de Gregory J.R., Sheridan S.G., Eng J.T., Watson J.T., Klaus H.D., Da-Gloria P., Wilson J.J., Krueger K.L., Stone A., Sereno P.C., Droke J.L., Perash R.L., Stojanowski C.M., Herrmann N.P. (2019). Dental microwear texture analysis of Homo sapiens sapiens: foragers, farmers, and pastoralists. American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 169, 207-226. DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.23815.
Williams F.L., Schmidt C.W., Droke J.L., Willman J.C., Semal P., Becam G., de Lumley M-A. (2019) Dietary reconstruction of Spy I using dental microwear texture analysis, Comptes Rendus Palevol. 18, 1083-1084.
Mahoney, P., Chiu, L., Nystrom, P., Deter, C.A., Schmidt, C.W. (2019). Dental microwear: 2D and 3D approaches. In, Parker-Pearson, M., Richards, M., Chamberlain, A. (eds), The Beaker People: isotopes, mobility and diet in prehistoric Britain. Prehistoric Society Monograph. Oxford: Oxbow
Schmidt C.W. (2018). Dental Macrowear and Microwear. International Encyclopedia of Biological Anthropology. Wiley-Liss. ISBN 978-1-118-58442-2.
Williams, F.E., Droke, J., Schmidt, C.W., Willman, J.C., Becam, G., de Lumley, M-A. (2018). Dental microwear texture analysis of Neandertals from Hortus cave, France. Comptes Rendus Palevol. 17: 545-556.
Karriger WM, Schmidt CW, Smith FH. (2016). Dental Microwear Texture Analysis of Croatian Neandertal Molars. Paleoanthropology. doi:10.4207/PA.2016.ART102 pp 172-184.
Mahoney P, Schmidt CW, Deter C, Remy AJ, Slavin P, Johns SE, Miszkiewicz JJ, Nystrom P. (2016). Deciduous enamel 3D microwear texture analysis as an indicator of childhood diet in medieval Canterbury, England. Journal of Archaeological Science. 66, 128-136.
Remy AJ, Schmidt CW. (2016). What ancient people ate. Physics Today 69, 78-79.
Schmidt CW, Beach J, McKinley J, Eng J. (2016). Distinguishing dietary indicators of pastoralist and agriculturists via dental microwear texture analysis. Surface Topography: Metrology and Properties. doi:10.1088/2051-672X/4/1/014008
Arman S, Brown C, Ungar PS, DeSantis L, Schmidt CW, Prideaux G. (2016). Minimising inter-microscope variability in Dental Microwear Texture Analysis. Surface Topography: Metrology and Properties. doi.org/10.1088/2051-672X/4/2/024007
Remy, AJ, Schmidt CW, D’Anastasio R. (2015). Using a White Light Confocal Profiler for Ancient Diet Reconstruction. Proceedings of Microcopy and Microanalysis 21, 929-930.
Casserly A, Van Sessen B, Schmidt CW. (2014). Determining onset of significant facial pathology using dental wear and microwear texture analysis: a case study from the Middle Archaic (~5,500 BP) of Indiana. Dental Anthropology 27:5-8.

Dr. Schmidt's Books Regarding DMTA

Long 'on' the Tooth: Dental Evidence of Diet

Dental Wear in Evolutionary and Biocultural Contexts

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