Why would they assume it was stronger so that they could crack open nuts and not to crack open bone? Was man not eating meat at that time? They weren't using tools, such as a nut smashing rock? Prehistoric 'nutcracker man' built for foraging Teeth and jaws allowed the individual to bite through nutshells with ease An early human who lived between two and three million years ago had teeth and jaws that functioned like a nutcracker, allowing the individual to bite through nutshells with ease, according to a new study. The finding may put Australopithecus africanus in a shell-chomping category with another human ancestor, Paranthropus boisei, dubbed "Nutracker Man" by scientists last year for having super-thick teeth. David Strait, lead author of a new study on the fossil, explained to Discovery News that "large nuts and seeds may have been foods that were eaten during times when other types of food were not available." "At those times, nuts and seeds may have been crucial to survival because if you couldn't eat them, then you'd either have to move to a new habitat or die," added Strait, an associate professor of anthropology and co-director of Human Biology at the University at Albany SUNY....
What the hell are you talking about? If you can crack nuts, you can crack bones, and so scientists should say they also cracked bones because they ate meat?
That's not what they say. They say the bigger jaw was the crack nuts. Why didn't they think it was to crack bone? Was early man not eating meat at this evolutionary stage? That's what the hell I'm talking about.
Can't modern man crack bone and nuts with their jaws? Most just choose not to because it's easier and less painful to use something else.
I don't think there is any way I could ever crack an uncooked bone or a brazil nut. But yeah, I suppose I could crunch rodent or bird bones. Its just that their jaw is so much larger and the scientists settled on nuts. Why nuts specifically?
That's a good question. Nuts doesn't really seem like it would be their staple food, since our digestive tracts have an easier time digesting meat than plants, but I don't know maybe there were a lot of crushed nuts where they found the skeleton.
so was early man not eating meat at that time? Had they not figured out you could smash a nut with a rock? And that's what I'm wondering. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
They should have been using tools, monkeys and birds smash stuff with tools, we couldn't have been that slow developing.
I haven't met a goober that I couldn't break open with my teeth.Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
an uncooked one? Holy Crap! You have some strong teeth. Umm, why were you knawing on uncooked bones? ewww
While I am not an expert on early hominids, the answer to your question is, as understand it, that protein from meat did not become a significant part of our diet until after we had moved into the savannahs. There was a time when paleoanthropologists asserted that Australopithecines did regularly hunt and eat meat (and even engaged in acts of cannibalism), but those positions were apeculative and supporting evidence never came up, so the positions were largely abandoned. They probably did eat some meat from small animals from time to time, but it was not a significant part of the diet until later species came along. See, for example, the section on Australopithecine diet here, wgere they base the analysis in part on the ration of different carbon-isotopes found in fossils (you are what you eat, after all).
why would a human want to crack a bone that big back then with his teeth? we know NOW that humans can break certain bones with their jaws, but back then, maybe the biggest bone this man wanted to crush was smaller than that of a medium sized dog or something. I can't imagine why a prehistoric man would have jaws capable of crushing a woolly mammoth's bones. now replace woolly mammoth, with any era-correct animal that's bigger than a human being. I might be way off, but to me, it seems like nuts would be a more logical decision for the prehistoric mans primary diet.
