Diet and Molar Microwear

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For 20 years, studies of microwear patterns on teeth of humans and other primates has promised to reveal new ways of discerning dietary habits of those animals and also fossil ancestors, since dental microwear patterns are recoverable. However, because of the complexities that researchers uncovered, this early promise has gone largely unfulfilled. This project will be the first to study microwear patterns on teeth and relate those patterns to observed patterns of eating by the particular animals concerned. The physical traits (eg hardness) of the foods consumed will be established and related to these and other findings. This study will be of importance to physical anthropology, animal behavior, and dentistry.