Our work on the functional relationship between tooth wear inclination and diet in Late Pleistocene and modern human populations was recently published in the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology. This is the first study that, contrary to previous studies, shows that Paleolithic humans did not have a much harsher diet compared to modern hunter-gatherers. We have actually found that Neanderthals, for example, were characterized by a much ligther tooth wear than Inuit and Bushmen, with steeper wear inclinations, which may indicate the consumption of a less abrasive diet, which could be ultimately due to food preparation techniques that incorporated less dust and grit into their diets.
Our manuscript is now accessible on Early View on the following link:
