Fossils of Homo antecessor show more scratches on their cheek teeth than later human ancestors, which suggests they ate more unprocessed, gritty foods like raw meat, tough plants, or bone marrow...
Mechanism
Synthesis from 1 study
Homo antecessor ate a lot of raw, gritty foods like dirt-covered plants and uncooked meat, and the tiny hard bits in those foods scraped their teeth every time they chewed. Over time, these scrapes added up, leaving more marks than later humans who ate softer, cleaner food.
Most probable mechanism
When people eat tough, gritty foods like raw plants, bone marrow, or meat covered in dirt, tiny hard particles get caught between the teeth during chewing. These particles scrape against the outer surface of the back teeth over and over, leaving behind tiny scratches. The more often this happens and the grittier the food, the more scratches build up over time, creating a lasting record of what was eaten.
Hard, abrasive particles such as quartz grit, silica phytoliths, or fine bone fragments become embedded in food during ingestion and are not removed by cleaning or processing.
During mastication, these particles are pressed between enamel surfaces and exert mechanical forces in the milli-Newton range, causing localized indentation and shearing of the enamel.
The direction and orientation of the resulting microscratches reflect the movement of food across the tooth surface, primarily in an occlusal-to-cervical direction.
Repeated exposure to abrasive foods leads to the progressive accumulation of scratches on the buccal enamel, forming a durable microwear pattern that reflects long-term dietary habits.
Evidence from Studies
Supporting (1)
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The diet of the first Europeans from Atapuerca
Contradicting (0)
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