History > Study Notes > _Physical_Anthropology (All)

_Physical_Anthropology

Document Content and Description Below

Physical Miracle Planet: Survival of The Fittest Anthropology J the evolution of Teeth and Diet ➢ Hominin diets unexpectedly became much more diverse than other primates about 4 million years a ... go ➢ Apes that were living in trees continued to eat whatever the jungle had provided, while human-like hominins widened their taste to include a variety of food from the jungle and savannah ➢ About 1.5 million years ago, Homo erectus had canines bigger than modern humans ➢ Over millions of years, the size of human jaws and teeth has gradually shrunk Thi➢ Seeds and other hard, fragile foods may be smashed between the teeth's "rounded cusps and shallow basins." ➢ Teeth that have “thinner, blade-like crests” are required to cut through foods like raw meat or leaves. ➢ Anthropologist Peter Unger believes that the slaughtered animal remains discovered in various sites represent the beginning of meat and bone marrow consumption in humans ➢ He explains how early Homo teeth were best suited for slicing than the teeth that their ancestors had and the tools that the Homo's used also indicated they had an adjustable diet Homo sapiens cooking meat Evolution of Teeth and Diet Thi➢ According to Peter Ungar, teeth and jaws evolved to deal with foods that are harder to find because that's what animals turn to when their regular diet is inaccessible ➢ Now several of modern humans contain enzymes that their ancestors lacked and it allows them to easily eat foods that contain starch and drink milk when they’re older ➢ Since our jaws aren't fully developed, a lot of people in today's world have crooked, damaged or crowded teeth ➢ Bacteria that live off the sugars stuck on our teeth causes gum disease and tooth decay as a result of people's sugar foods addiction Gum disease from too much sugars Evolution of Teeth and Diet Thi➢ Everything about the tooth reveals something about the person who had these teeth like for instance where they resided, what they consume and what illnesses they developed. ➢ Paleoanthropologist Kristin Krueger made a device that imitates a human jaw to show how various types of food affect our teeth and it's important because it allows us to have a deeper understanding of hominin diets, specifically the ones who ate a lot of meat. ➢ Anthropologists may use the dental record to uncover essential health factors. For instance, some researchers compared the tissue that develops under enamel in modern Greeks to ancient Middle Easterns. They found that deficiency of Vitamin D was 4x higher in the Greeks than their ancestors which could be possibly from being indoors a lot Why Is It Important? ThiPrediction Of How Teeth and Diet May Evolve Further I think our teeth will only evolve in the future depending on what we change our diet to. We’ve already evolved into having smaller jaws so now all 32 of our teeth doesn’t fit in our mouth and results in having them removed (wisdom teeth). There’s a possibility in the future that our jaws can get even smaller if we started eating a lot of soft food because then we wouldn’t require so much chewing and easily swallow it. This will cause our teeth to become more crowded and having some teeth removed again. ) [Show More]

Last updated: 3 years ago

Preview 1 out of 7 pages

Buy Now

Instant download

We Accept: