266 MAMMALIAN DENTITION 



skulls, is comparable with the similar condition displayed by 

 the molars of the Aye-aye. It has been defined by Keith as 

 the taurodont type, because it considerably resembles the hypso- 

 dont character of the Ox molars in contradistinction to the 

 cynodont appearance presented by the vast majority of modern 

 human molars which are more primitive in feature and in 

 skiagrams display characters of the pulp chamber and roots 

 somewhat similar to those of the Dog. The specialized char- 

 acters found so much more frequently in Neandertal than in 

 modern molars are so striking and so unlike the typical human 

 dentition that they create an impression fast becoming a con- 

 viction in the minds of many anatomists that Neandertal Man 

 cannot have been an ancestor of our own line but was rather 

 a specialized and now extinct offshoot of the human race. 



We believe that the food of Neandertal Man was not purely 

 carnivorous but included tough vegetables and grain. In addi- 

 tion these ancient people were probably not averse to the 

 chewing of hides a habit indulged in today by the Eskimos in 

 whom be it noted the taurodont form of molar tends to appear 

 more frequently perhaps than in any other modern race. The 

 specialized diet of the Aye-aye has been discussed in Chapter VI. 

 It is impossible to avoid the impression that the teeth of Nean- 

 dertal Man and. those of the Aye-aye represent degrees of the 

 same modification brought about under the influence of dietary 

 habit. The reader must remember of course that not all Nean- 

 dertalers exhibited this peculiarity. This fact, the relatively 

 infrequent occurrence of the condition in modern Man and the 

 total absence of the modification in Anthropoids leads us to 

 believe that the taurodont form of molar is a progressive feature 

 of the Primate dentition. In this character therefore Neander- 

 tal Man had progressed far beyond the stage which we our- 

 selves have attained, had in fact reached a position approached 

 among Primates only by the very aberrant Lemur Daubentonia. 



