Provider: Moravian Museum, Brno, Czech Republic TY - JOUR JO - Anthropologie (Brno) TI - A Study of the Molar Teeth of the Bronze Age Harappans in the Context of Evolutionary Biology AU - Dutta PC Y1 - 1983 VL - 21 IS - 2 PB - Moravian Museum, Brno, Czech Republic SN - 0323-1119 SP - 97 EP - 102 KW - Molar teeth KW - Bronze Age KW - India KW - Harappa N2 - N2 - Using the molar teeth of the Bronze Age Harappans, this study examines the two different hypotheses that have been postulated at explaining the reduction in human dentition since the end of the Pleistocene. The study discusses inappropriateness of these two hypotheses. The information available from this investigation clearly suggests that selection pressure favoured smaller molar size, and thereby smaller grinding area, adapted to the need to grind and chew soft cooked food. A set of large molars, earlier beneficial for mastication of tough food, would indeed be unfit. ER -