Presenter: Chelsey Boguslawski
Faculty Mentor: Michael Peixoto
Presentation Type: Oral
Primary Research Area: Social Science
Major: General Science
As the only bones that can fall out without hindering our everyday progress, teeth are miraculous. They help us consume food to obtain energy, give us wonderful smiles, and can indicate a lot about the body’s health. However, they have not always been portrayed in such positive light. Teeth in the middle ages carried a multitude of meanings, from indications of value to symbolic representations of the grotesque or monstrous. Perceptions varied from relics of religious significance to practical tools used for hunting and survival. Despite their prevalence in medieval literature, little modern scholarship has ever considered the ultimate meaning of teeth during the period. Using primarily monastic writings, in particular the work of Guibert of Nogent on relics, and encyclopedia cosmological texts such as Isidore of Seville’s Etymologies, I aim to change the common misunderstanding of the tooth’s irrelevance outside the scope of the human body. Through this exploration, my paper argues that teeth could act as physical representations of eternity. Through drawing connections between biblical descriptions and medieval stories, I critically examine the capacity of the tooth to hold complex and often competing meanings in medieval society. In so doing, my paper connects the diverse discourse on teeth to metaphysical meaning of the tooth as a semiotic object to elucidate how medieval people understood their world, as well as their pearly white smiles.