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简讯:纳莱迪人牙齿表面的微观磨损与饮食。

Brief communication: Dental microwear and diet of Homo naledi.

机构信息

Department of Anthropology, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.

出版信息

Am J Phys Anthropol. 2018 May;166(1):228-235. doi: 10.1002/ajpa.23418. Epub 2018 Feb 5.

Abstract

OBJECTIVES

A recent study of dental chipping suggested that Homo naledi teeth were exposed to "acute trauma" on a regular basis during life, presumably from the consumption of grit-laden foods. This follows debate concerning the etiology of dental chips in South African hominin teeth that dates back more than half a century. Some have argued that antemortem chips result from consumption of hard foods, such as nuts and seeds or bone, whereas others have claimed that exogenous grit on roots and tubers are responsible. Here we examine the dental microwear textures of H. naledi, both to reconstruct aspects of diet of these hominins and to assess the possibility that hard foods (gritty or otherwise) are the culprits for the unusually high antemortem chip incidence reported.

METHODS

We made high-resolution replicas of original molars and found that ten individuals preserve antemortem wear. These were scanned by white-light scanning confocal profilometry and analyzed using scale-sensitive fractal analysis. Resulting data were compared with those published for other fossil hominins and extant non-human primates.

RESULTS

Our results indicate that H. naledi had complex microwear textures dominated by large, deep pits. The only known fossil hominin with higher average texture complexity is Paranthropus robustus, and the closest extant primates in a comparative baseline series appear to be the hard-object feeder, Cercocebus atys, and the eurytopic generalist, Papio ursinus.

CONCLUSIONS

This study suggests that H. naledi likely consumed hard and abrasive foods, such as nuts or tubers, at least on occasion, and that these might well be responsible for the pattern of chipping observed on their teeth.

摘要

目的

最近一项关于牙齿碎裂的研究表明,纳莱迪人(Homo naledi)的牙齿在其一生中经常受到“急性创伤”,可能是由于食用了含有沙砾的食物。这一发现源于半个多世纪以来对南非古人类牙齿碎裂病因的争论。一些人认为,牙齿碎裂是由于食用了坚硬的食物,如坚果和种子或骨头,而另一些人则认为是根和块茎上的外源沙砾导致的。在这里,我们研究了 H. naledi 的牙齿微观磨损纹理,以重建这些古人类的饮食方面,并评估食用坚硬食物(无论是否含沙砾)是否是报告的异常高的生前齿裂发生率的罪魁祸首。

方法

我们对原始臼齿进行了高分辨率复制,发现有十个人的牙齿保留了生前磨损。这些牙齿通过白光扫描共聚焦轮廓术进行扫描,并使用尺度敏感分形分析进行分析。所得数据与其他化石古人类和现生非人类灵长类动物的数据进行了比较。

结果

我们的结果表明,H. naledi 的牙齿具有复杂的微观磨损纹理,主要由大而深的凹坑组成。唯一已知的化石古人类具有更高的平均纹理复杂性的是粗壮南猿(Paranthropus robustus),而在比较基准系列中最接近的现生灵长类动物似乎是硬食物食者(Cercocebus atys)和广域适应的杂食者(Papio ursinus)。

结论

本研究表明,H. naledi 可能至少偶尔食用坚硬和磨蚀性食物,如坚果或块茎,这些食物很可能是导致其牙齿观察到的碎裂模式的原因。

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