Like Neanderthals, early modern humans used their teeth as tools

[wnylib]

4. Reminds me of the scolding I got from my

dentist when I was a teenager. Back then, women and teens used bobby pins to fix hair rollers in place in order to "set" our hair for certain styles.

Since it was necessary to hold the rolled hsir in place with one.hand, I used the other hand and my teeth to open the bobby pin. This left.tiny little grooves in my front teeth. Not noticeable when I smiled, but.the dentist said it would get worse if I did not stop. He had seen it often enough to know how it happened. Then he filed them just enough to smooth them without noticeably changing the length.

Soon after, rollers and bobby pins went the way of the dinosauers and my teeth were safe.

But I still use them today to tear open bags of chips or nuts. Seems. so obvious to me that I wonder why an anthropologist would bother studying it as a comparison with HN.