Abstract: Tooth wear is closely related to human survival activities and is a common physiological phenomenon observed on human remains excavated from archaeological sites. It holds significant research value in fields such as physical anthropology and archaeology. Currently, numerous scholars both domestically and internationally have conducted research on tooth wear in ancient populations, yielding a wealth of findings, yet a systematic review is still lacking.This paper reviews and summarizes the common types and influencing factors of tooth wear in ancient inhabitants based on relevant research outcomes from both domestic and international sources.Tooth wear can manifest morphologically as flat, oblique, rounded, spoon-shaped, cup-shaped, and groove wear in macroscopic forms. It can be further categorized into striations and pits in microscopic forms. Factors influencing tooth wear include age, food structure, food processing techniques, socioeconomic types, and specific human behavioral patterns that may result in distinctive wear phenomena. Additionally, factors such as chewing methods, chewing frequency, occlusal relationships between upper and lower jaws, and the developmental status of teeth also influence tooth wear to a certain extent. Research on tooth wear can be applied to infer individual age at death, explore the dietary structure and socioeconomic patterns of ancient populations, elucidate ancient labor behaviors and social division of labor, reconstruct patterns of weaning and feeding in children, as well as the functional restoration of occlusal relationships between upper and lower dental arches. Based on differences in research purposes and subjects, the academic community has proposed specialized observation methods and grading standards for assessing the degree of tooth wear. However, there is no unified grading method or standard for tooth wear at present. Overall, exploring the dietary conditions and subsistence patterns of ancient populations from different archaeological sites in China through tooth wear is a major focus of research on ancient human tooth wear domestically. Significant research outcomes have revealed the dietary conditions and subsistence patterns of various archaeological site populations. In terms of time, these sites are primarily concentrated from the Neolithic to the early Iron Age. Geographically, research on tooth wear in ancient Chinese populations is mainly distributed in the Central Plains and northwestern border regions of China, with relatively fewer studies in the southern regions. Compared to international research, domestic studies on ancient human tooth wear still face limitations such as narrow research perspectives and homogeneous content. Future research could benefit from innovations in research fields, ideas, and methods to fill gaps and achieve further results.

Key words: ancient populations, teeth, tooth wear