DENTAL EVIDENCE FOR DIETARY CHANGE AT ABU HUREYRA

Analysis of SEM photographs of surface abrasion of human teeth from Mesolithic and Neolithic levels at Tell Abu Hureyra, Syria, indicates that there was a change in the diet between the Mesolithic and Neolithic. Food eaten was harder and coarser in the Neolithic. This change coincides with the switch from availability of many small grained seeds in the Mesolithic to few large grained cereals in the Neolithic. There is some evidence for a change in food preparation technique in the later Neolithic. Children appear to have been weaned on to a softer version of the adult diet. © 1991.