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/sci/ - Science & Math

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12560034 No.12560034 [Reply] [Original]

How did ancient humans cut their nails? Why do we have such fast-growing nails, but can't regrow teeth?

>> No.12560044

Their nails were probably kept dull by all the manual labor they had to do.

>> No.12560048

>>12560034
ever noticed how your nails rip off if they get too long?

>> No.12560050

nails were naturally filed down by us having to actually do shit with our hands and walk barefoot. we dont need to regrow teeth because we didnt have tooth decaying sugar back then and anyone who was beta enough to get them knocked out of his skull was probably too frail to pass on his genes desu

>> No.12560056

Probably sanded them on something abrasive like a stone.
Chewed them.
Humans didn't live long enough to need more than one set of teeth, not many of them would have made it past 50. Also we didn't have sugar etc so teeth would have lasted longer

>> No.12560065

>>12560048
Yeah, it's painful as fuck and hard to do any manual labor while it's regrowing.
>>12560050
True, but even alphas get knocked out sometimes, and it doesn't even seem like that much extra energy to just keep an extra row of backup teeth behind the adult teeth.

>> No.12560069

I can cut the nails in my hands with my teeth.

>> No.12560097

the IQ of this thread is worrying

>> No.12560106

>>12560097
/soi/ is not what it once was

>> No.12560110

>>12560069
Same, along with my toe nails

>> No.12560112

>>12560069
wtf? you have a deficiency or something, drink more milk keratinlet

>> No.12560142

>>12560097
And it's only a glimpse of what /sci/ is capable of!

>> No.12562182

>>12560034
Fascinating that you should ask about the teeth of ancient humans.
Their arches were much better due to mastication from a young age, so they had zero need for orthodontics. Even wisdom teeth fit perfectly. They never developed caries because sweet stuff was rare. They wore their much faster than we do, but only very rarely would this have been in the realm of "too much". You still had enough tooth substance to eat when you died, at the ripe old age of 45.
Even medieval people had perfect dental arches due to harder foods, but did have some caries due to sweet stuff being easier to access than in prehistory.

>> No.12562224

They bit them off.

>> No.12562261

>>12560142
Hence I come to this board mostly for meta-reasons now, and the more I reflect on it the less often I come.

>> No.12562277

All I do is take another nail from the other hand, most often the thumb nail, and jab it into the side of the nail I want to cut toward the tip at a 90 degree angle about 0.5 mm from the end and saw up and down. That creates a "tab" that I can dig the cutting nail into then peel away an even strip of nail pinched between fingers. Sometimes the layers of the nail separate and you get an ugly tear but that soon "rubs down" to a nice looking finish on its own. but they I then dispose of the nail in a trash receptive. The thumbs on either hand can cut each others' nails in like manner. I remember when I fielrst heard that other humans have to report to cutting instruments or biting their nails and I was horrified.

>> No.12562309

>>12560056
historical average ages were lower mainly due to infant death, surviving people didnt always live to ages they do now, but many surely did.

>> No.12562384

>>12560112
wot
Is there anyone else here that can't cut his nails with his teeth ?

>> No.12562394

>>12560034
Something that I've heard (no source) is that the purpose of wisdom teeth is to replace the molars our ancestors lost during their young adult years (mid-life for them)

>> No.12562422

>>12562309
Human lifespan only really increased around 30,000 years ago (so early civilizations saw 70+ geezers but cavemen most likely did not). The first humans lived around 160,000 years ago and lived around ~30 years

>> No.12562428

>>12562384
He has a weak jaw don't mind him. Humans who can't file their own nails down with their teeth will eventually be removed from the gene pool due to their weak genetics

>> No.12563025

>>12562277
same

>> No.12563031

>>12560034
t. person that has never seen someone bite their nails

>> No.12563088

>>12560069
This

>> No.12563130

>>12560050
>t. never been in a fight

>> No.12563341

>>12562422
>cavemen
no such thing. huntergatherers live longer than civilised people (excepting latter half of 20 centruy to today because of medicine) if you don't include infant mortality.

>> No.12563345

>>12560056
>Humans didn't live long enough to need more than one set of teeth,
you could live 300 years on one set of teeth. the problem is diet which doesn't apply prior to early modern era in most cases.

>> No.12563371

>>12560034
Just peel em, not hard. If you are actually outside a lot then it is natural to get random cuts that can be easily peeled.

>> No.12565119

havn't used a tool to clip them in my life.
i allways cut one fingernail with the otheres,
works fine

>> No.12565295

>>12562277
how do you cut the final nail? or do you keep one sharp

>> No.12565307

>>12560034
After a certain length my nails tend to peel off. I have no idea how these Guinness Book of record witch nail freaks don't break theirs.