US EditionPrimate Teeth Study Raises Questions About Hominins' Use of “Toothpicks” - Archaeology Magazine
3 Articles
3 Articles
Primate Teeth Study Raises Questions About Hominins' Use of “Toothpicks” - Archaeology Magazine
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA—Grooves sometimes observed on the exposed roots of hominin teeth have long been interpreted as possible evidence of the use of sticks or fibers to clean teeth and gums. According to a report in The Conversation, similar grooves have been identified on the teeth of wild primates by a team of scientists led by Ian Towle of Monash University. The researchers analyzed more than 500 teeth from 27 living and extinct primate specie…
For more than a century, fine grooves on human fossil teeth have been interpreted as a trace of an ancient behavior: the use of objects to heal their teeth. This gesture, supposedly repeated over several millennia, has often been presented as tangible evidence of early cultural habits. But this reading is now called into question. A study led by Ian Towle (University of Kyoto) and Luca Fiorenza (Griffith University), published in the American Jo…
Those Marks On Ancient Teeth Might Not Be From Toothpicks After All
For decades, tiny grooves on fossilized human teeth were believed to be signs of early dental hygiene, evidence that ancient people used sticks or plant fibers as primitive toothpicks. But new research on wild primates now suggests these markings might not be human-made after all. Published in the American Journal of Biological Anthropology, the study challenges long-standing assumptions in human evolution. The researchers, from Monash Universit…
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