Dental modification practices on the Cape Flats in the Western Cape

The people living on the Cape Flats in the Western Cape have been practicing dental modification for a number of years. A systematic survey of eight adjoining areas in the Northern suburbs was done to investigate the prevalence, motivation and possible historical time depth of this practice. The survey was conducted by means of a questionnaire. A total of 2167 individuals participated in this study of which 41 % had modified their teeth. More males (44.8%) than females (37.9%) were involved in this practice. Residential area and pay class had an impact on dental modification practices as the incidence increased within lower income areas. Six styles of modification were identified, of these; the removal of the upper four incisors (style 400) was often the style of choice (93. 7%). There were four stated reasons (peer pressure, fashion, gangsterism and medical/other) for dental modification of which peer pressure (in males) and fashion (in females) were the most popular. Dentists did most of the extractions. Three quarters of the entire study sample had family members with dental modifications. More than half (69.8%) of individuals with modifications wore dentures. Not only coloured people were modifying their teeth, some study subjects who had self-classified themselves as black or white also practiced it

The effect of clothing on decomposition and vertebrate scavengers in cooler months of the temperate southwestern Cape, South Africa

With research providing conflicting results from different habitats across the globe, the effect of clothing on decomposition is unclear; some studies indicate clothing increases decomposition rate by facilitating increased insect activity, and others conclude clothing prolongs the decay process. In South Africa, such research is lacking, with no data for the Western Cape Province, which suffers from a high murder rate with many unclaimed, unidentified bodies. Improving post-mortem interval (PMI) estimates will increase chances of correct forensic identification of decedents by narrowing the search window for police. Since no current PMI estimation method accounts for the possible influence of clothing, this study was designed to examine the effect of seasonally appropriate common clothing on decomposition rate in the thicketed Cape Flats Dune Strandveld, Cape Town, a forensically significant region. Four ∼60 kg domestic pig carcasses (Sus scrofa domesticus) were used as proxies for human decomposition, two were clothed and two unclothed. The clothing, altered by a seamstress to ensure an appropriate fit, caused a notable decrease in decay rate in this initial sample. Daily weight loss was used as a quantitative measure of decomposition progression, as the clothing prevented the use of visual decomposition scoring systems. Weight loss was closely associated with scavenging activity by the Cape grey mongoose (Galerella pulverulenta), with a clear scavenger preference for unclothed carcasses. This suggests that the effect of clothing on decomposition may be better assessed in this environment by examining how scavengers interact with only a single clothed carcass

Grave tales : an osteological assessment of health and lifestyle from 18th and 19th century burial sites around Cape Town

Includes bibliographical references (p. 249-270).Two unwalled 18th and 19th century colonial burial sites, Cobern Street and Marina Residence, were assessed osteologically and dentally to reconstruct the life histories and activity patterns of the poorer people living at the Cape. This was done to add to the history and knowledge of the descendants of these people, as little other information exists on them. Questions pertaining to diet, stress, activity patterns and trauma were investigated. Visual (standard and novel macroscopic methods e.g. distal humeri method), metric (femoral neck method) and histological (proximal anterior femur) techniques were tested and employed to estimate age and sex, as the skeletal material was fragmentary and incomplete. Only adults were assessed and analysed (n = 86 and n = 75 for Cobern Street and Marina Residence respectively) as the infant, juvenile and sub-adult skeletal material was too badly preserved and fragmentary to attempt reconstruction. Mortality profiles reveal that the two study sites were different in community dynamics. They led hard active lives as seen from their muscle marking and degenerative joint disease patterns. Osteoarthritis was not only very frequent within the groups but was found in much of the younger adult skeletal material. Stress and trauma were relatively low within the two populations. Dental disease was relatively high within the two study groups. This was as a result of a carbohydrate rich diet and poor oral hygiene. Thus the food they were consuming as well as the activities they were involved in had a huge impact on their lives. The first possible cases of syphilis, tuberculosis and Paget's disease at the Cape were found within these two study groups