TY - JOUR
T1 - Buccal striations on fossil human anterior teeth
T2 - evidence of handedness in the middle and early Upper Pleistocene
AU - Bermúdez de Castro, JoséMaría
AU - Bromage, Timothy G.
AU - Jalvo, Yolanda Fernández
N1 - Funding Information:
We wish to thank Jean Louis Heim for permission to examine and to obtain replicas of the teeth of La Quina 5 specimen, and Henri and Marie Antoinette de Lumley for permission to examine the human remains from Hortus. Special thanks are given to Peter Andrews, Emiliano Aguirre, Marta Ceballos, Carlos Diez, Josefa Enamorado, Antonio Sanchez and Begoiia Sanchez for their suggestions and critical comments during the course of this work. We are also indebted to the reviewers, who provided important constructive criticisms, to Jose Luis Monreal, Mark Newcomer and Cottrell & Co. Dental Supply for the experimental materials provided, and to the photography service of the Museo National de Ciencias Naturales. SEM facilities were generously provided to Y.F.J. by M. D. Claugher and MS S. H. Barnes, to T.G.B. by Prof. Alan Boyde, and to J.M.B.C. by P. Adeva. This research was supported by a grant from the Comision Asesora de Investigation Cientifica y Tecnica in relation to the Atapuerca-2 Project (No. 1849/82).
PY - 1988/6
Y1 - 1988/6
N2 - The presence of gross preferentially distributed striations on the buccal surfaces of permanent anterior teeth of Neandertal individuals from La Quina, Hortus and Angles-sur-l'Anglin (France), Saint Brais (Switzerland) and Shanidar (Iraq) has led some authors to hypothesize that Neandertals used stone tools to cut something held between the anterior teeth, inadvertently scratching the enamel at the same time. We also observe these striations on the anterior teeth of Middle Pleistocene hominids from Atapuerca/Ibeas, Spain, on the incisors of La Quina 5, and on one isolated I1 from Cova Negra, Spain. Macro- and microscopic studies of these striations, together with those striations produced in an experimental study suggest that scratching of these hominid anterior teeth was indeed the result of ante-mortem tool use, producing striations indicating right- (normally) or left-handedness (rarely). These results provide indirect evidence for lateralization of the brain of Middle and early Upper Pleistocene hominids.
AB - The presence of gross preferentially distributed striations on the buccal surfaces of permanent anterior teeth of Neandertal individuals from La Quina, Hortus and Angles-sur-l'Anglin (France), Saint Brais (Switzerland) and Shanidar (Iraq) has led some authors to hypothesize that Neandertals used stone tools to cut something held between the anterior teeth, inadvertently scratching the enamel at the same time. We also observe these striations on the anterior teeth of Middle Pleistocene hominids from Atapuerca/Ibeas, Spain, on the incisors of La Quina 5, and on one isolated I1 from Cova Negra, Spain. Macro- and microscopic studies of these striations, together with those striations produced in an experimental study suggest that scratching of these hominid anterior teeth was indeed the result of ante-mortem tool use, producing striations indicating right- (normally) or left-handedness (rarely). These results provide indirect evidence for lateralization of the brain of Middle and early Upper Pleistocene hominids.
KW - Pleistocene hominid behaviour
KW - dental modification
KW - handedness
KW - striations/cutmarks
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U2 - 10.1016/0047-2484(88)90029-2
DO - 10.1016/0047-2484(88)90029-2
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0001666237
SN - 0047-2484
VL - 17
SP - 403
EP - 412
JO - Journal of Human Evolution
JF - Journal of Human Evolution
IS - 4
ER -