Because of soft food human jaw gradually became wider and shorter

The researchers suggested that the development of agriculture has affected the shape of human teeth.



The anthropologist Noreen von Cramon-Taubadel from the University of Kent in England, conducted scientific research, including a study of the skull and jaw shapes the 11 tribes that lived in all corners of the Earth. For six of these tribes, the main occupation was agriculture, and the rest were engaged in hunting and gathering.

After analyzing 322 skulls and jaws 295, von Cramon-Taubadel found a pattern: the hunters were narrow and elongated "predatory" lower jaw, while the jaw "farmers" are wider and shorter. Perhaps this suggests that the shape of the jaw gradually adjust to the main source of food for the tribe.

In recent years, anthropologists have argued that differences in skull shape between tribes living in different parts of the world, often caused not by natural selection, and the so-called genetic drift - omnidirectional statistical variation options for the development of populations.

via factroom.ru