dental microwear and diet of the plio-pleistocene hominin paranthropus boisei牙科microwear plio-pleistocene人族的饮食和南非胡桃.pdfVIP

Dental Microwear and Diet of the Plio-Pleistocene Hominin Paranthropus boisei 1 2,3,4 4 Peter S. Ungar *, Frederick E. Grine , Mark F. Teaford 1 Department of Anthropology, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas, United States of America, 2 Department of Anthropology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, United States of America, 3 Department of Anatomical Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, United States of America, 4 Leverhulme Center for Human Evolutionary Studies, The University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom, 5 Center for Functional Anatomy and Evolution, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America Abstract The Plio-Pleistocene hominin Paranthropus boisei had enormous, flat, thickly enameled cheek teeth, a robust cranium and mandible, and inferred massive, powerful chewing muscles. This specialized morphology, which earned P. boisei the nickname ‘‘Nutcracker Man’’, suggests that this hominin could have consumed very mechanically challenging foods. It has been recently argued, however, that specialized hominin morphology may indicate adaptations for the consumption of occasional fallback foods rather than preferred resources. Dental microwear offers a potential means by which to test this hypothesis in that it reflects actual use rather than genetic adaptation. High microwear surface texture complexity and anisotropy in extant primates can be associated with the consumption of exceptionally hard and tough foods respectively. Here we present the first quantitative analysis of dental microwear for P. boisei. Seven specimens examined preserved unobscured antemortem molar microwear. These all show relatively low complexity and anisotropy