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Migration

TED Radio Hour

CHAPTER

How a Single Tooth Can Tell the Story of My Life

If you have Native American or Asian ancestry, the shapes of your teeth will be different than people whose ancestors came long back from Europe or from Africa. All the minerals and elements in the food can tell us something about your diet. And that is what archaeologists use to identify ancient migration. But we're not interested as much in your family's migration history as yours. That's where we go to the tooth enamel, what it's made out of to try and find out if a person moved.

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