--

>If (either of) the two technologies as shown in the diagram in
>
>     http://www.beyondveg.com/billings-t/comp-anat/comp-anat-6b.shtml
>



<Brace et al. [1991, p. 47] note:

<Meat cooked in such a fashion can become quite tender indeed, and in such
condition it <requires less chewing to render it swallowable than would be
the case if it remained <uncooked. In turn, this should represent the
relaxation of selection for maintaining teeth <at the size level that can be
seen throughout the Middle Pleistocene. The appearance of <the earth oven in
the archaeological record, then, should mark the time at which the <dental
reduction manifest in the Late Pleistocene had its beginning.

this guy have obviously never chewed on raw aged meat.
 cooked shrimp or clam is more difficult to chew that a raw one for exemple.

<They then tie the further reduction in human dentition to the use of
pottery, which allows <fermentation as well.

I have somebody without teeth taking advantage of vessels and technology to
eat a raw food diet including meats.

While this afternoon for 2 hours  i was opening up a big pile of sheeps
bones . the idea came to me that the explanation of change in mouth
structure can be given to  the newly accessibility with tools to brain ,bone
marrow ( easely edible raw without teeths ) and tender aged meats left over
by carnivorous.

cooking bone marrow and brain is rather ineficient without a bowl to get the
melted fat
Fire is a wonderfull tool to chase and keep  away carnivorous animals from
their prey and also as means to favorise savannah type fauna and flora.

The explanation given in the web site hold the road with cooked plant fiber
( effectivelly more tender, but not with meat .i have yet to see the
tendersation of meat thru cooking.

jean-claude