A bit less bite may have helped usher in the evolution of modern human ancestors

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2025-04-23 09:01

Australia; International; NSW

Homo Habilis skull, Rama, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Changes in diet or the way food was processed may have played an important role in the origin of modern human ancestors, according to Australian and international research, which has found that the early members of the Homo genus couldn't generate as much bite force in their molar teeth as their previous ancestors. The authors say Homo habilis, the earliest members of the genus Homo, lacked the ability to process foods requiring strong molar bites, unlike the australopiths that came before them. They say that dietary or food processing changes likely played an important role in the emergence of our genus.

Media release

From: The Royal Society

Bite force production and the origin of Homo

Royal Society Open Science

The evolution of Homo has been described as a trend of decreasing dentognathic size and robusticity, precipitated by tool use and/or a shift to softer foods. However, isotopic and archaeological data suggest that this shift only occurred with the appearance of H. erectus. This study provides mechanical evidence that, unlike most australopiths, Homo habilis lacked the ability to process foods requiring strong molar bites. This constraint, also seen in modern humans, suggests early Homo evolved with reduced selection for high bite force production, implying that dietary or food processing changes played an important role in the emergence of our genus.

Journal/
conference: Royal Society Open Science

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: The University of New England, East Tennessee State University, USA

Funder: This research was funded by NSF BCS 0725219, 0725183, 0725147, 0725141, 0725136, 0725126, 0725122, 0725078 and NSF DBI 0743460, the EU FP6 Marie Curie Actions MRTN-CT-2005- 019564 ‘EVAN,’ The Leakey Foundation Research Grant 40463, and an OVPR Research Grant from Eeansnt eTssee State University

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