Centro Nacional Patagónico, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Puerto Madryn, Argentina.
Am J Phys Anthropol. 2010 Feb;141(2):297-314. doi: 10.1002/ajpa.21151.
Masticatory loading is one of the main environmental stimuli that generate craniofacial variation among recent humans. Experimental studies on a wide variety of mammals, including those with retrognathic postcanine teeth, predict that responses to masticatory loading will be greater in the occlusal plane, the inferior rostrum, and regions associated with the attachments of the temporalis and masseter muscles. Here we test these experimentally-derived predictions on an extinct human population from the middle and upper Ohio valley that underwent a marked shift from hunting-gathering to extensive farming during the last 3,000 years and for which we have good archaeological evidence about diet and food processing technology. Geometric morphometric methods were used to detect and measure the putative effect of diet changes on cranial shape independent of size. Our results partially confirm only some of the experimental predictions. The effect of softer and/or less tough diets on craniofacial shape seem to be concentrated in the relative reduction of the temporal fossa and in a displacement of the attachment of the temporal muscle. However, there were few differences in craniofacial shape in regions closer to the occlusal plane. These results highlight the utility of exploring specific localized morphological shifts using a hierarchical model of craniofacial integration.
咀嚼负荷是导致现代人类颅面差异的主要环境刺激因素之一。对包括后犬齿后缩的各种哺乳动物的实验研究预测，咀嚼负荷的反应将在咬合平面、下喙部和与颞肌和咬肌附着相关的区域更大。在这里，我们在一个从中石器时代到中石器时代的人类种群中测试了这些从实验中得出的预测，该种群在过去 3000 年中经历了从狩猎采集到广泛农业的显著转变，并且我们有关于饮食和食物加工技术的良好考古证据。几何形态测量方法用于检测和测量饮食变化对颅面形状的潜在影响，而不考虑大小。我们的结果仅部分证实了一些实验预测。较软和/或较不坚韧的饮食对颅面形状的影响似乎集中在颞窝的相对减小和颞肌附着的位移上。然而，在更接近咬合平面的区域，颅面形状差异很小。这些结果强调了使用颅面整合的分层模型探索特定局部形态变化的实用性。
