Paleontologists often examine microscopic scratches and pits that form
on teeth for indications of the diets of past animals. Most researche
rs count and measure scratches and pits from photomicrographs to ident
ify microwear patterns for comparison among samples. This paper descri
bes an affordable, available semiautomated image analysis procedure fo
r microwear quantification. An image is downloaded from a scanning ele
ctron microscope frame buffer to a microcomputer, and the user identif
ies microwear features with a mouse-driven pointer. Microwear feature
density, dimensions, and orientations are then computed and stored as
ASCII files for subsequent data analysis.