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Early Humans Had Nutcracker Jaws
LiveScience.com ^ | Feb. 3, 2009 | LiveScience Staff

Posted on 02/03/2009 12:13:55 PM PST by Free ThinkerNY

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To: liege
Did the computer simulate harder teeth, also?

That was my question too. Even jaws of steel would serve no purpose with no teeth.

21 posted on 02/03/2009 8:51:17 PM PST by PistolPaknMama (We're mad, but when do we get REALLY mad?)
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To: PistolPaknMama
Here's what you need:


22 posted on 02/04/2009 4:55:46 AM PST by CholeraJoe (You think I'm crazy? I got your crazy right here!)
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To: liege

Hardness may not be a factor. PSI is the secret. By adjusting the square inches with larger force applied to more square inches of teeth, the total force is increased.

I think Australopithicus had larger teeth.


23 posted on 02/04/2009 4:24:14 PM PST by bert (K.E. N.P. +12 . The original point of America was not to be Europe)
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To: MetaThought
It’s probably due to a common vitamin K2 deficiency.

what's lacking or in excess in our current environment that would cause a population-wide K2 deficiency? I've never heard of K2 :)

24 posted on 02/04/2009 9:33:15 PM PST by blueplum
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To: blueplum
what's lacking in our current environment...

Well, people don't eat enough Vitamin K2. Vitamin K2 (MK-4) comes from the following sources:

Butter, Eggs, Marrow, Brains ...

K2 (MK-7) comes from these things: Natto, Aged Cheese, etc

The human body can convert K1 (Spinach, Kale etc) to K2, but not very efficiently.

Among many other things, the human body uses K2 to build enamel on teeth, strong jaws etc. It's also responsible from keeping bone healthy.

Hope that made you curious. PM me for a good link on K2

25 posted on 02/05/2009 12:09:19 AM PST by MetaThought
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To: MetaThought
Butter, Eggs, Marrow, Brains ...

ok, of the four, three would probably be in early man's diet.

The human body can convert K1 (Spinach, Kale etc) to K2, but not very efficiently.

so, early man, who had stronger, more enameled teeth, might be more likely to have been a milenia-generational brain, egg and bone-cracking marrow eater, consuming a lot of K2 sources, before become more of a veggie/nut eater? Is that possible?

26 posted on 02/05/2009 12:46:57 AM PST by blueplum
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To: blueplum
so, early man, who had stronger, more enameled teeth, might be more likely to have been a milenia-generational brain, egg and bone-cracking marrow eater, consuming a lot of K2 sources, before become more of a veggie/nut eater? Is that possible?

That's the theory. What makes you think that early man was a big veggie/nut eater ? Humans have been omnivores for a long time.

27 posted on 02/05/2009 12:57:52 AM PST by MetaThought
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To: MetaThought

What makes you think that early man was a big veggie/nut eater ? Humans have been omnivores for a long time.

Well, sure, I agree. But I was questioning why less enamel today and going back to your supposition that less thick tooth enamel might be a multi-generational deficiency of K2,
so, if you can’t get a lot of K2 out of veggie’s, and early man was a leaf-eating omnivore, then why would early man’s tooth enamel be thicker 1.6 million years ago, then today, when man has more access to k2 sources?

the wild guess questions I’m supposing are, is the thicker enamel in early man genetic leftovers from some meat-eating ape ancestor, or Did man gradually lose the ability to manufacture K2? or did the gene for stronger enamel degrade??

http://www.newarchaeology.com/articles/earlyhom.php

...he became nicknamed “nutcracker man”, although Bosei appears to have been a leaf chewer. Leakey thought him to be fruit eating as the teeth are similar to chimpanzees. The omnivour diet would have composed of roots, seeds, eggs, fungi, insects and perhaps reptiles. There is no signs of bone crunching on any teeth.


28 posted on 02/05/2009 2:09:22 AM PST by blueplum
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To: blueplum

why would early man’s tooth enamel be thicker 1.6 million years ago, then today, when man has more access to k2 sources?

Man has more access, but how many people actually eat marrow and brain? very few, I’ll wager.

... teeth are similar to chimpanzees.

Well chimpanzees do hunt and eat meat.
This is an awesome video of chimps hunting colobus.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1WBs74W4ik

the wild guess questions I’m supposing are, is the thicker enamel in early man genetic leftovers from some meat-eating ape ancestor, or Did man gradually lose the ability to manufacture K2? or did the gene for stronger enamel degrade??

Both are possibilities, but it makes it hard to check the third possibility (gene for stronger enamel) if we’re handicapping modern humans to start with.


29 posted on 02/05/2009 9:44:11 AM PST by MetaThought
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To: blueplum

... man has more access to k2 sources?

If you think about it, I imagine early man would have eaten the entire kill, brain, marrow and all.

btw, here’s a cool link about k2

http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2009/01/vitamin-k2-and-cranial-development.html


30 posted on 02/05/2009 9:58:50 AM PST by MetaThought
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To: MetaThought

thanks for the links/articles on K2 - it sounds very interesting ! :)


31 posted on 02/06/2009 5:54:29 PM PST by blueplum
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