Mesowear study of ungulates from the early Pleistocene site of ‘Ubeidiya (Israel) and the implications for early Homo dispersal from Africa
An ongoing question in Anthropology and Archaeology focuses on the role of climate change in human evolution and particularly in the dispersal of hominins out of Africa. One of the main hypothesis posits that early Pleistocene sites were open grassland habitats and that early Homo differentially inhabited such environments. Testing the environmental hypothesis requires robust […]
Hypsodonty and tooth facet development in relation to diet and habitat in herbivorous ungulates: implications for understanding tooth wear
1. The evolution of high-crowned teeth or hypsodonty in herbivorous mammals is widely interpreted as a species specific adaptation to increasingly wear-inducing diets and environments at evolutionary time scales, with internal abrasives (such as phytoliths in grasses) and/or external abrasives (such as dust or grit) as putative causative factors. The mesowear score (MS) instead describes […]
Tooth wear in captive giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis): Mesowear analysis classifies free-ranging specimens as browsers but captive ones as grazers
Captive giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis) mostly do not attain the longevity possible for this species and frequently have problems associated with low energy intake and fat storage mobilization. Abnormal tooth wear has been among the causes suggested as an underlying problem. This study utilizes a tooth wear scoring method (“mesowear”) primarily used in paleobiology. This scoring […]