Doctoral Dissertation Improvement: Neandertal Behavior as Inferred from Incisor Microwear Texture Analysis

博士论文改进：从门牙微磨损纹理分析推断尼安德特人的行为

• 批准号: 0925818
• 负责人: Peter Ungar
• 金额: $ 1.5万
• 依托单位: University of Arkansas
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-09-01 至 2011-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0925818&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Improvement; Neandertal; Behavior

Neandertal fossils from Europe and the Near East provide a rich source of data for the investigation of this hominin's behavior. Their teeth are especially important, although much about them remains unexplained. Perhaps the most distinctive enigma is the unusual wear pattern found on the incisors. The most commonly accepted explanation for the excessive gross wear and labio-lingual (cheek-tongue) rounding is non-dietary use of the anterior teeth. This was inferred by analogy from ethnographic accounts of Alaskan Eskimo and Canadian and Greenland Inuit populations that used their front teeth as tools. The purpose of this study is to investigate the possible causes of Neandertal anterior tooth wear using dental microwear texture analysis. Point clouds of microscopic wear surfaces of anterior teeth of Neandertals, early anatomically modern humans that overlapped these extinct hominins in time, and comparative bioarcheological human groups with documented subsistence behaviors will be created using a white-light scanning confocal profiler. These will be analyzed using the scale-sensitive fractal analysis computer software packages Toothfrax and SFrax. Five variables will be measured, each describing different aspects of microwear surface textures. Climatic models and stable isotope data will then be integrated with the microwear data to reconstruct anterior tooth use behaviors of Neandertals. Studies of dental microwear on the anterior teeth of Neandertals and early anatomically modern humans will facilitate the reconstruction of tooth use behaviors, and help identify differences and similarities between these groups. The baseline series used to relate patterns of incisor wear to use will be the most comprehensive of its type to date, and will allow for the inference of diet and anterior tooth use in other fossil hominins as well as other bioarcheological populations. The broader impacts of this study include: This doctoral dissertation research project will contribute to the academic training of a female graduate student in an EPSCoR state. Research experience will be provided for undergraduates and minority high school students in an Upward Bound pre-college advancement program.

来自欧洲和近东的尼安德特化石为调查这种人类行为提供了丰富的数据来源。他们的牙齿尤其重要，尽管关于它们的很多仍然无法解释。也许最独特的谜是门牙上发现的异常磨损图案。最常见的解释是过度磨损和唇 - 语言（脸颊）的圆形的解释是对前牙的非态度使用。这是由阿拉斯加爱斯基摩人以及加拿大和格陵兰因纽特人种群的人种学叙述所推断的，这些人口将其前牙作为工具。这项研究的目的是研究使用牙科纹理分析来研究尼安德特尔前牙齿磨损的可能原因。尼安德特人前牙的微观磨损表面的点云，早期的解剖学现代人类，这些人类及时重叠，这些人类及时重叠，并使用白色光线扫描扫描共同剖面供应仪创建具有记录的生存行为的比较生物结构人类群体。这些将使用对比例敏感的分形分析计算机软件包牙文和SFRAX分析。将测量五个变​​量，每个变量描述了微型表面纹理的不同方面。然后将气候模型和稳定的同位素数据与微神经数据集成，以重建尼安德特人的前牙齿使用行为。对尼安德尔特牙齿和早期解剖学早期牙齿的牙齿微粒的研究将促进牙齿使用行为的重建，并有助于确定这些群体之间的差异和相似性。 用于将门牙磨损模式与使用的基线系列是迄今为止最全面的类型，它将允许在其他化石人类素以及其他生物结构种群中推断饮食和前牙。 这项研究的广泛影响包括：该博士学位论文研究项目将有助于EPSCOR州的女性研究生的学术培训。 将为大学生和少数族裔高中学生提供研究经验，其中包括上大学的前进进步计划。