Tooth morphology, wear and diet in australopithecus and paran thropus from Southern Africa

For over 30 years, the dietary proclivities of the australopithecines have been the subject of considerable study and debate. The longevity of these debates is understandable because the question of diet is central to the construction of viable models of early hominid ecology and evolution. Not only do dietary factors directly affect the structures of the masticatory system, the anatomical parts that comprise the bulk of the fossil record, but they also bear upon musculoskeletal developments associated with food acquisition.