On Sat, 10 Jan 1998 Dean Esmay <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> One of the most common arguments advanced by advocates of vegetarianism,
> and by some other commentators on health, is that humans evolved as
> vegetarian or mostly-vegetarians.  The most frequently forwarded argument
> to advance this position is that human tooth and jaw structrure are clearly
> those of herbivores, with flat molars, excellent sideways chewing motion,
> and with a clear lack of sharp teeth for killing prey.
>
> I most recently heard a snippet of this line of thinking on a popular news
> show here in America called "Nightline" in which a medical doctor and
> health writer advanced this view.
>
> I wonder if anyone among our membership would like to comment on this line
> of reasoning?

One must remember that teeth are only a part of the dentition.  According
to Hillson (1986, p13-14) The dentition functions in eating (not
necessarily its only function) for crushing, slicing or grinding food.
"Most of these functions are accomplished by the jaw muscles, but it is
also to do with the hinges points, the temporomandibular joints (TMJ for
short) ..... The complexity of these joints varies."

Carnivores cut up their food by shearing one sharp-ridged tooth against
another, only requiring an up and down movement.  Hence the TMJ is
limited.  The same is true of insectivores which merely crush food between
sharp sets of cusps.

Herbivores tend to specialise in side to side (e.g. ungulates) or back and
forth (e.g. rodents) lower jaw movements to grind their food.

Humans use a complex process of up and down, side to side and back and
forth motions.

This suggests to me that we are omnivores, with some herbivore and some
carnivore features.  "Flat" molars (technically bunodont, with low rounded
cusps rather than sharp ridges) are found in primates, bears and suiform
artiodactyls, as well as some generalised carnivores within Musteildae,
Viverridae and Canidae (Hillson p17) so one cannot argue from  molar shape
alone, or one would have to argue that badgers, mongooses and racoon-dogs
are all vegetarian!

Reference

Hillson, S (1986) Teeth. Cambridge Manuals in Archaeology.  Cambridge
University Press: Cambridge, UK

Andrew Millard

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 Dr. Andrew Millard                              [log in to unmask]
 Department of Archaeology, University of Durham,   Tel: +44 191 374 4757
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