University Library News
Georgia State University

Teeth: The Windows to an Extinct Primate’s Stomach?

Did you know that, from studying the teeth of Pliocene primate fossils, GSU Anthropology Professor Frank L’Engle Williams has been able to infer the primates’ dietary habits and environmental habitats?  Learn more in his article:

Williams, F., & Holmes, N. A. (2011). Evidence of terrestrial diets in Pliocene eurasian papionins (Mammalia, Primates) inferred from low-magnification stereomicroscopy of molar enamel use-wear scars. Palaios, 26(11), 720-729.

Reconstruction of Paradolichopithecus. Drawing by A. Vlachos
Reconstruction of Paradolichopithecus. Drawing by A. Vlachos

If you find this research fascinating, you might also be interested to know that the Department of Anthropology at Georgia State University currently houses an important and unique collection of primate dental impression specimens, and that “low-magnification stereomicroscopy, statistical tools and a digital library of occlusal surfaces are available for students and researchers to address the biochronology and paleoecology of Plio-Pleistocene southern Africa.”