TY - JOUR
T1 - How did the Qesem Cave people use their teeth? Analysis of dental wear patterns
AU - Sarig, Rachel
AU - Gopher, Abraham
AU - Barkai, Ran
AU - Rosell, Jordi
AU - Blasco, Ruth
AU - Weber, Gerhard W.
AU - Fornai, Cinzia
AU - Sella-Tunis, Tatiana
AU - Hershkovitz, Israel
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA.
PY - 2016/4/4
Y1 - 2016/4/4
N2 - Dental wear pattern is an important source of information regarding dietary habits, food preparation, and human economic behavior. In the current study we present our preliminary analysis of the dental wear patterns of the Middle Pleistocene (420-200 kya) Qesem Cave teeth. Five types of tooth wear were studied: Occlusal wear, interproximal wear, subvertical grooves, buccal microwear and root striations. We found mild to moderate occlusal wear (stage range 2-4), the largest proximal facet on the M2 medial was 15.3 mm2, presence of three subvertical grooves on the M2 distal surface, a variety of microwear scratches (many are >200 mμ long and >5 mμ wide) and two types of root striations. The data obtained suggests that the Qesem Cave people possessed a strong masticatory system producing massive anterior component of force, and used small flints as food choppers.
AB - Dental wear pattern is an important source of information regarding dietary habits, food preparation, and human economic behavior. In the current study we present our preliminary analysis of the dental wear patterns of the Middle Pleistocene (420-200 kya) Qesem Cave teeth. Five types of tooth wear were studied: Occlusal wear, interproximal wear, subvertical grooves, buccal microwear and root striations. We found mild to moderate occlusal wear (stage range 2-4), the largest proximal facet on the M2 medial was 15.3 mm2, presence of three subvertical grooves on the M2 distal surface, a variety of microwear scratches (many are >200 mμ long and >5 mμ wide) and two types of root striations. The data obtained suggests that the Qesem Cave people possessed a strong masticatory system producing massive anterior component of force, and used small flints as food choppers.
KW - Attrition
KW - Dental wear
KW - Middle Paleolithic
KW - Qesem Cave
KW - Teeth
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84949023993&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.quaint.2015.10.033
DO - 10.1016/j.quaint.2015.10.033
M3 - ???researchoutput.researchoutputtypes.contributiontojournal.article???
AN - SCOPUS:84949023993
SN - 1040-6182
VL - 398
SP - 136
EP - 147
JO - Quaternary International
JF - Quaternary International
ER -