Title: Mechanical and thermal food processing effects on mastication and cranio-dental morphology
Description: Chimpanzees spend ~40% of their day chewing fruits, seeds, and tough leaves and pith, while in contrast modern humans spend significantly less time eating (5%), and the foods that they consume are extremely soft and processed. How have these differences, especially the advent and increasing use of foods processing techniques, influenced masticatory effort and ultimately the morphology of the jaws and teeth? This dissertation addresses this question by measuring the effects that early hominin food processing methods (slicing, pounding, and roasting) have on food material properties, masticatory performance and functional integration of the teeth and jaws.