安徽巢湖早期智人的牙齿磨耗和早期智人前部齿工具机能假说

巢湖早期智人的前部齿重度磨耗较大可能是与前部齿行使习惯上的非咀嚼性机能和经常啃咬坚韧的食物有关。如果早期智人前部齿的工具机能被理解为既包括非咀嚼性的也包括咀嚼性的,则早期智人前部齿工具机能假说可用来解释巢湖早期智人的前部齿重度磨耗现象,而巢湖早期智人将是出自东亚的支持这一假说的首例化石材料。

TOOTH WEAR IN EARLY HOMO SAPIENS FROM CHAOHU AND THE HYPOTHESIS OF USE OF ANTERIOR TEETH AS TOOLS

The anterior teeth are worn to a much greater degree than the posterior teeth in the early Homo sapiens from Chaohu, Anhui. The heavy wear on anterior teeth of Chaohu early Homo sapiens can be attributed to neither biological and pathological conditions in masticatory apparatus nor body diseases. More likely, the heavy wear results from the habitual non-masticatory use and the biting off hard and tough food. The heavy wear on anterior teeth of early Homo sapiens from Europe has been observed and explained by C. L. Brace. He proposed a hypothesis of use of anterior teeth as tools. This hypothesis emphasizes the non-masticatory use of anterior teeth. However, the anterior teeth also functioned as tools when the teeth of early Homo sapiens had to be used for cutting off hard and tough food by lack of specialized tools. The tool function of anterior teeth may involve mastication besides non-mastication in early Homo sapiens. With this understanding, the Brace's hypothesis is still valid for explanation of the heavy wear on anterior teeth of Chaohu, and the early Homo sapiens fossil from Chaohu is the first one from east Asia to support the hypothe-