关键词: 牙齿磨耗;早期智人

Abstract: The anterior teeth are worn to a much greater degree than the posterior teeth in the early Homo sapicns from Chaohu, Anhui.
The heavy wear on anterior teeth of Chaohu early Homo sapiens can be attributed to neither biological and pathological conditions in masticatory apparatus nor body diseases, More likely, the heavy wear results from the habitual non-masticatory use and the biting off hard and tough food.
The heavy wear on anterior teeth of early Homo sapiens from Europe has been observed and explained by C. L. Brace. He proposed a hypothesis of use of anterior teeth as tools. This hypothesis emphasizes the non-masticatory use of anterior teeth. However, the anterior teeth also functioned as tools when the teeth of early Homo sapiens had to be used for cutting off hard and tough food by lack of specialized tools. The tool function of anterior teeth may involve mastication besides non-mastication in early Homo sapiens. With this understanding, the Brace's hypothesis is still valid for explanation of the heavy wear on anterior teeth of Chaohu, and the early Homo sapiens fossil from Chaohu is the first one from east Asia to support the hypothesis.

Key words: Tooth wear; Early Homo sapiens