Canine “honing” in Australopithecus afarensis

✍ Scribed by Leonard O. Greenfield

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1990
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 839 KB
• Volume: 82
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0002-9483
• DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.1330820203

✦ Synopsis

The maxillary canines of Austrulopithecus ufurensis show a distal wear facet that extends from the apex of the crown to a point near the distal cingulum. Although these facets bear a superficial resemblance to the honing facets found on the projecting portions of the canines of other anthropoids, a more detailed examination provided in this paper shows that they are not homologous or functionally equivalent. The facets are not related to the use of the maxillary canine as a weapon or as an additional masticatory surface. Instead, their presence in A. ufurensis represented a blunting or dulling of the posterior edge ofC so that its occlusion with P3 would be consistent with cheek tooth occlusion.