INTERPROXIMAL GROOVING IN THE ATAPUERCA-SH HOMINID DENTITIONS

The dental sample recovered from the Sima de los Huesos (SH) Middle Pl eistocene cave site of the Sierra de Atapuerca (Spain) includes 296 sp ecimens. Interproximal wear grooves have been observed in 20 maxillary and mandibular posterior teeth belonging to at least five of the 32 i ndividuals identified so far in the SH hypodigm. Interproximal groovin g affected only the adults, and at an age between 25 and 40 years. The appearance, morphology, and location pattern of the SH wear grooves a re similar to those reported in other fossil hominids and in more rece nt human populations. Two alternative proposals, the toothpicking and the fiber or sinew processing hypotheses, compete for explaining the f ormation of this anomalous wear. The characteristics observed in the w ear grooves of the SH teeth are compatible only with the habitual prob ing of interdental spaces by means of hard and inflexible objects. Die tary grit may also have contributed to the abrasion of the root walls during the motion of the dental probes. (C) 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.