Farming, cheese, chewing changed human skull shape
8/24/2017 05:00:00 PM
UC Davis anthropologist David Katz measured specific points on hundreds of human skull bones (top)
to create a wire frame model of the skull and jaw (bottom). Blue dashes indicate changes in skull
shape from foragers to dairy farmers [Credit: David Katz and Tim Weaver, UC Davis]
Humans who live by hunting and foraging wild foods have to put more effort into chewing than people living from farming, who eat a softer diet. Although previous studies have linked skull shape to agriculture and softer foods, it has proved difficult to determine the extent and consistency of these changes at a global scale.
Graduate student David Katz, with Professor Tim Weaver and statistician Mark Grote, used a worldwide collection of 559 crania and 534 lower jaws (skull bones) from more than two dozen pre-industrial populations to model the influence of diet on the shape, form, and size of the human skull during the transition to agriculture.
Read more at
https://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2017/08/farming-cheese-chewing-changed-human.html#mxvtlGbP32hzpPAC.99
