The 17th International Symposium on Dental Morphology (ISDM) and 2nd congress of the International Association for Paleodontology (IAPO) will take place in Bordeaux, France, from 4-7 October, 2017. It will be hosted by PACEA (Unité Mixte de Recherche 5199) at the University of Bordeaux, at the domaine du Haut-Carré in Talence.
ISDM-IAPO is an interdisciplinary symposium, bringing together researchers in anatomy, palaeoanthropology, palaeontology, archaeology, dentistry, genetics, biology and biomechanics, focussing on various themes: dental evolutionary changes, teeth in archaeology, dental growth and development, biomechanical aspects of the masticatory apparatus, odontology, pathology and oral health in present and past populations, evo-devo of hard tissues and new methods in dental studies.
This meeting takes place every three years and PACEA is delighted to host the symposium in 2017, after very successful meetings in Greifswald (2008), Newcastle upon Tyne (2011) and Zagreb (2014). The first International Symposium on Dental Morphology was held in Fredensborg, Denmark in 1965 and grew from an idea of Drs. Albert A. Dahlberg, Poul O. Pedersen and Verner Alexandersen. Prior to that there had always been regular dental sessions at the American Association of Physical Anthropologists meetings and there had also been two meetings sponsored by the Society for the Study of Human Biology (SSHB). The published proceedings of the London meeting formed the well-known volume edited by Don R. Brothwell, “Dental Anthropology” (1963). At the first meeting it was decided to have no formal organization involving election of officers or collection of annual fees but rather to vote on where to hold subsequent meetings at roughly 3 year intervals. Since that time each local organizing committee has inherited a mailing list and through that everyone is encouraged to invite fellow scientists with an interest in dental morphology in its widest sense to attend the symposia. It was Albert A. Dahlberg’s idea that each symposium was intended to build upon the last and to encourage communication, scientific investigation and collaboration. On the 4th to 7th of October 2017 the 17th International Symposium on Dental Morphology will take place in Bordeaux, France in a joint meeting with the 2nd congress of the International Association for Paleodontology.
The scientific board includes members of the UMR 5199 PACEA and other French research units (UMR 5188 AMIS at Toulouse, UMR 5242 IGFL at Lyon, UMR 5554 ISEM at Montpellier, UMR 7179, 7207 et 7209 at the Natural History Museum in Paris, UMR 7264 CEPAM at Nice), as well as international colleagues from University College London, British Museum, Natural History Museum and Queen Mary University in London, Universitat Rovira i Virgili in Tarragona, University of Michigan, University of Bristol, University of Kent, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, University of Zagreb and University of Oulu.
The scientific programme will be organized around eight sessions: Dental evolution in deep time, Teeth and archaeology (humans & animals), Dental growth and development, Dental function and biomechanics, Odontology and Paleodontology, Tooth evo-devo, Genetics and epigenetics as well as New methods in dental studies. The final day will be dedicated to an excursion to the Vallée de l'Homme in Dordogne.
