Add the humble toothpick to the list of the earliest human inventions.
Homo erectus used toothpicks 1.8 million years ago, says Peter Ungar of the
University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. A tooth from the famous Olduvai Gorge
site in Tanzania bears a series of tiny parallel lines scraped by a sharp, thin
object pushed into the narrow space between teeth, he told a meeting of the
American Association of Physical Anthropology last week. He believes early
humans adopted toothpicks when they started eating meat. Many later human teeth
have similar marks, but modern chimpanzees and gorillas do not use
toothpicks.
More from New Scientist
Explore the latest news, articles and features
Technology
Test moderators use AI-generated writing to judge literacy standards
News
Mind
THC in cannabis may reduce nightmares in people with PTSD
News
Environment
Fishers detonate a bomb every hour on one Indonesian coral reef
News
Environment
How bad is the UK drought and how long will it continue?
News
Popular articles
Trending New Scientist articles