PRECISE PUNCHER
06-26-2014, 09:30 AM
Ancient humans, such as Neanderthals, had teeth, mouths, faces and brains that were superior to today's people.
http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/files/2013/03/skulls.jpg
In studying the remains of Pleistocene and of post-Pleistocene man, therefore, we must be careful not to confuse characters which are of racial importance with progressive modifications which may occur, in response to cultural changes, within any group. Such modifications are especially concerned with the Jaws and teeth. Among the more primitive white peoples, such as Berbers and Albanian mountaineers, the incisors of the two jaws meet edge to edge, as they did among most of the mediaeval inhabitants of western Europe. Under modern conditions this changes rapidly to an overbite, and is frequently accompanied by a narrowing of the palate and crowding of the teeth, making modern orthodontia profitable. This shifting of the bite affects also the position of the lips and changes the entire facial expression.
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/01/how-forks-gave-us-overbites-and-pots-saved-the-toothless/267252/
Yes, I found to be this one of the most fascinating and surprising changes to be brought about by kitchen utensils.
Until around 250 years ago in the West, archaeological evidence suggests that most human beings had an edge-to-edge bite, similar to apes. In other words, our teeth were aligned liked a guillotine, with the top layer clashing against the bottom layer. Then, quite suddenly, this alignment of the jaw changed: We developed an overbite, which is still normal today. The top layer of teeth fits over the bottom layer like a lid on a box.
This change is far too recent for any evolutionary explanation. Rather, it seems to be a question of usage. An American anthropologist, C. Loring Brace, put forward the thesis that the overbite results from the way we use cutlery, from childhood onwards.
What changed 250 years ago was the adoption of the knife and fork, which meant that we were cutting chewy food into small morsels before eating it. Previously, when eating something chewy such as meat, crusty bread or hard cheese, it would have been clamped between the jaws, then sliced with a knife or ripped with a hand -- a style of eating Professor Brace has called "stuff-and-cut."
The clincher is that the change is seen 900 years earlier in China, the reason being chopsticks.
As with any such thesis, we will probably never have definitive proof that the overbite results from the adoption of the fork, but it does seem the best fit with the evidence.
The first time I read Brace's work, I was truly astonished. So often, we assume that the tools we use for eating are more or less irrelevant -- at most, a question of manners. I found it remarkable that they could have this graphic impact on the human body.
http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/files/2013/03/skulls.jpg
In studying the remains of Pleistocene and of post-Pleistocene man, therefore, we must be careful not to confuse characters which are of racial importance with progressive modifications which may occur, in response to cultural changes, within any group. Such modifications are especially concerned with the Jaws and teeth. Among the more primitive white peoples, such as Berbers and Albanian mountaineers, the incisors of the two jaws meet edge to edge, as they did among most of the mediaeval inhabitants of western Europe. Under modern conditions this changes rapidly to an overbite, and is frequently accompanied by a narrowing of the palate and crowding of the teeth, making modern orthodontia profitable. This shifting of the bite affects also the position of the lips and changes the entire facial expression.
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/01/how-forks-gave-us-overbites-and-pots-saved-the-toothless/267252/
Yes, I found to be this one of the most fascinating and surprising changes to be brought about by kitchen utensils.
Until around 250 years ago in the West, archaeological evidence suggests that most human beings had an edge-to-edge bite, similar to apes. In other words, our teeth were aligned liked a guillotine, with the top layer clashing against the bottom layer. Then, quite suddenly, this alignment of the jaw changed: We developed an overbite, which is still normal today. The top layer of teeth fits over the bottom layer like a lid on a box.
This change is far too recent for any evolutionary explanation. Rather, it seems to be a question of usage. An American anthropologist, C. Loring Brace, put forward the thesis that the overbite results from the way we use cutlery, from childhood onwards.
What changed 250 years ago was the adoption of the knife and fork, which meant that we were cutting chewy food into small morsels before eating it. Previously, when eating something chewy such as meat, crusty bread or hard cheese, it would have been clamped between the jaws, then sliced with a knife or ripped with a hand -- a style of eating Professor Brace has called "stuff-and-cut."
The clincher is that the change is seen 900 years earlier in China, the reason being chopsticks.
As with any such thesis, we will probably never have definitive proof that the overbite results from the adoption of the fork, but it does seem the best fit with the evidence.
The first time I read Brace's work, I was truly astonished. So often, we assume that the tools we use for eating are more or less irrelevant -- at most, a question of manners. I found it remarkable that they could have this graphic impact on the human body.