News

Our new study on the biomechanics of Neanderthal’s anterior dentition has been recently published in the Journal of Human Evolution. Neanderthal anterior teeth are very large (significantly larger than those of modern humans) and have a distinctive morphology characterised by robust “shovel-shaped” crowns. These features are seen as adaptive responses in dissipating heavy mechanical loads resulting from masticatory and non masticatory activities. This assumption (Anterior Dental Load Hypothesis; ADLH) is based on the heavily worn front teeth that characterise most

Our new study on the masticatory habits, diet and biomechanics of the Neanderthal specimen of Bourgeois-Delaunay 1 has been recently published in the American Journal of Biological Anthropology. Teeth are the first structures involved in food processing. As so, they are perfect to reconstruct the diet of extinct populations as well as to help revealing their masticatory habits. This study evaluates the macrowear pattern of the adult Neanderthal Bourgeois-Delaunay 1 (BD 1) along with cementum volume measurements in molars distinguishing

Our new study on the analysis of lower molar macrowear in Pleistocene humans and more recent modern human groups has been recently published in the Journal of Archaeological Science. Our study reveals different wear patterns among modern human populations exhibiting distinct lifestyles. Hunter-gatherers’ macrowear pattern, who mostly relies on meat intake, significantly differs from those early farmer societies, while human groups with a mixed-diet display an intermediate wear pattern between both. These finding support the hypothesis that the material culture

We are pleased to announce that our Discovery Project titled “From foraging to farming. Human adaptations during major transitions”, in collaboration with Professor Stefano Benazzi (University of Bologna) and Professor Rachel Sarig (Tel Aviv University), will be funded by the Australian Research Council for a total of $717,816. This project aims to investigate the causes that led to the human demographic explosion occurred during the Neolithic Revolution by analysing dental tissues through cutting-edge methods. This project expects to generate novel

Tooth wear consists in the loss of dental tissues caused by a combination of different factors related to diet, environment and cultural habits. It forms on cusps and basins of opposite teeth (occlusal wear), and in between adjacent teeth along their mesial and distal aspects (interproximal wear). However, the mechanisms and the relationship between these two types of dental wear are still not clear. In this study we examine occlusal and interproximal wear in Neanderthal and Australopithecus africanus molars by

A new docuseries on human evolution produced by WildBear Entertainment and titled “The Human Revolution” was broadcast last week on ABC TV. It consists of two episodes that focus on how the story of our species has been re-written by stunning discoveries of human remains, art and artefacts analysed by sophisticated dating, genetic and microscopic imaging techniques. The first episode traces the human story back through deep time to discover who our ancient cousins really were, and what they can

In the past few weeks we have published a couple of manuscript on the relationship between feeding ecology and dental macrowear in Asian and African apes. In the first study published in the American Journal of Biological Anthropology we looked at tooth macrowear patterns in gorillas, orangutans and chimpanzees finding differences linked to their feeding ecology. In particular the chimpanzee’s pattern looks significantly different from those of orangutans and gorillas, and this is probably related to their more frugivorous diet.

It is with great pleasure to announce that Laura Martín-Francés has been recently awarded the prestigious EU funded Marie Sklodowska-Curie Global Fellowship with a project titled “Bite’s evolution: a biomechanical study of Pleistocene humans in Europe” (288,433€). This is a collaborative research project between Monash University, the Spanish National Research Centre on Human Evolution (CENIEH), and the Complutense University of Madrid. Laura will use advanced imaging and engineering techniques to better understand how the dentition of our oldest European ancestors from the

The aim of this study is to provide a set of longitudinal quantitative data within a functional context obtained from the analysis of molar macrowear patterns of children and young adults based on the Occlusal Fingerprint Analysis method. We examined the mixed dentition of Australian Aboriginal children taken from the Yuendumu longitudinal dental sample, which consists of measurements, radiographs, family data, and 1717 sets of dental casts representing 446 individuals, collected between 1951 and 1971. Our results suggest that the

Luca Fiorenza was recognised among Australia’s top researcher by the The Australian’s Research 2020 Magazine as Leader in the field of Anthropology. The Australian’s Research 2020 Magazine has recognised researchers, who have made a significant impact to Australia across 255 individual fields of research. Anthropology was listed under Social Sciences. Luca Fiorenza was one of the 30 Australia’s leading researchers in the social sciences – one selected from each of the 30 fields in this discipline.They are the researchers with