# An international, open-access dataset of dental wear patterns and associated broad age classes in archaeological cattle mandibles

## TL;DR

This paper introduces Bubona, an open-access dataset of cattle dental wear patterns and age classes to improve archaeological age estimation methods.

## Contribution

The novel contribution is the creation of an international, open-access dataset for archaeological cattle mandible age estimation.

## Key findings

- Bubona contains 1460 data entries from nine countries for reference in age-at-death estimation.
- The dataset aims to improve and innovate age estimation systems for cattle mandibles with incomplete dentition.

## Abstract

Zooarchaeologists investigate past interactions between animals, humans, and their environments by analyzing the remains of archaeological fauna. Age-at-death distributions are fundamental to faunal analysis and are often estimated by comparing exposed dentine patterns to standardized tooth wear stages that have been associated with relative age classes. We present Bubona, an international dataset of dental wear patterns and associated broad age classes in archaeological cattle mandibles. Our open-access dataset of 1460 data entries from nine counties is being used to create tooth-type specific reference tables of probable age class attribution for cattle mandibles lacking complete dentition. Bubona is a valuable resource for the innovation of new systems of age estimation for cattle and it is the creators hope that researchers will continue to both help expand the dataset by contributing their own data, as well as utilize the data to refine and innovate age-at-death estimation methods.