Abstract

Pre-European people on Rapanui are known to have had a high rate of dental caries. One proposed explanation for this is that the people consumed a considerable amount of sugar cane, as a thirst quencher, since fresh water is scarce on the island. Human bone samples were analysed by isotope analysis to see i f this explanation could be sustained . Results for three isotopes 13C, &15N, and & 34S were then used in a stochastic model to estímate the proportions of five main food types in the diet of these people. This indicated that daily consumption of dry raw sugar cane was only about 32 to 42 g per day. This is very low and sugar cane consumption is therefore unlikely to be the only cause of the high rate of dental caries.