Researchers at University College Dublin have been analysing a collection of skeletal remains from Levant, Anatolia and Europe that are between 6,000 and 28,000 years old and they have discovered that hunger-gatherers had perfect alignment between their upper and lower jaw – suggesting that farming diets could be the cause of modern man’s malocclusions.
Over time, food became softer and easier to chew, leaving humans with smaller jaws and causing gradual misalignments or crowding of the teeth. Professor Ron Pinhasi, leader of the research team, said ‘Our analysis shows that the lower jaws of the world’s earliest farmers in the Levant are not simply smaller versions of those of the predecessor hunter-gatherers, but that the lower jaw underwent a complex series of shape changes commensurate with the transition to agriculture.’
The jaws of semi-sedentary hunter-gatherers showed no signs of dental crowding because they needed bigger, stronger teeth and jaws to chew hard foods. Sedentary farmers had access to softer foods that required less chewing. Professor Pinhasi described the hunter-gatherers as having ‘perfect harmony between their lower jaws and teeth.’ However, the ‘harmony’ began to fade over time as agriculture developed.
The findings of the study have been published in the journal Plos One.