TY  - JOUR
A1  - Hernaiz-García, María
A1  - Oxilia, Gregorio
A1  - Benazzi, Stefano
A1  - Sarig, Rachel
A1  - Fu, Jing
A1  - Kullmer, Ottmar
A1  - Fiorenza, Luca
T1  - Diet of Neanderthals and early Homo sapiens from macrowear analysis of mandibular molars
T2  - Journal of archaeological science
N2  - Neanderthal diet has been on the spotlight of paleoanthropological research for many years. The majority of studies that tried to reconstruct the diet of Neanderthals were based on the analysis of zooarchaeological remains, stable isotopes, dental calculus and dental microwear patterns. In the past few years, there have been a few studies that linked dental macrowear patterns of Neanderthals and modern humans to diet and cultural habits. However, they mostly focused on maxillary molars. Although mandibular molars have been widely used in microwear dietary research, little is known about their usage at the macroscopic scale to detect information about human subsistence strategies. In this study, we compare the macrowear patterns of Neanderthal (NEA), fossil Homo sapiens (FHS), modern hunter-gatherers (MHG), pastoralists, early farmers and Australian Aborigines from Yuendumu mandibular molars in order to assess their utility in collecting any possible information about dietary and cultural habits among diverse human groups. We use the occlusal fingerprint analysis method, a quantitative digital approach that has been successfully employed to reconstruct the diet of living non-human primates and past human populations. Our results show macrowear pattern differences between meat-eater MHG and EF groups. Moreover, while we did not find eco-geographical differences in the macrowear patterns of the fossil sample, we found statistically significant differences between NEA and FHS inhabiting steppe/coniferous forest. This latter result could be associated with the use of distinct technological complexes in these two species, which ultimately could have allowed modern humans to exploit natural resources in a different way compared to NEA.
KW  - Pleistocene populations
KW  - Tooth wear
KW  - Food processing
KW  - occlusal fingerprint analysis
Y1  - 2024
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/82960
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-829606
SN  - 0305-4403
VL  - 164
IS  - 105950
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - Amsterdam
ER  -