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Cited by 107Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology StudiesMorphological variations and asymmetryPrimate Behavior and Ecology

The Supraorbital Torus: "A Most Remarkable Peculiarity" [and Comments and Replies]

Russell, Mary Doria, Brown, T., Garn, Stanley M., Giris, Fakhry, Turkel, Spencer, İşcan, M. Yaşar, Oyen, Ordean J., Jacobshagen, Burkhard +5 more·1985·Current Anthropology
DOI 10.1086/203279
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Abstract

The supraorbital torus is found only in some genera of the primate order. Because no muscles of consequence attach directly to it, it has been considered nonfunctional. However, invitro strain-gauge experiments demonstrate that when the anterior teeth are loaded, the supraorbital region acts as a bent beam, pulled downward on each end by masticatory muscle forces and pushed upward centrally by bite force. Clinical and experimental data indicate that in response to repeated dynamic bending stress, adaptive cellular activity reconstructs skeletal material until bending stresses are neutralized. With these facts in mind, the hypothesis that supraorbital development is, in part, a predictable ontogenetic response to in-vivo bending stresses which concentrate over the eyes during anterior tooth loading was tested by means of a biomechanical model. The bent-beam model states that supraorbital bending is a function of the area moment of inertia of the forehead (relative to the direction of the bite force) and of the bending moment. When this model was tested on a series of Australian Aboriginal crania, significant relationships were found between browridge development and measures of forehead area moment and bending moment. It was concluded that the torus functions to resist bending stress concentrated over the eyes during anterior biting and that its development is proportional to the amount of such stress which cannot be resisted by the unadorned frontal bone.

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Crossref · 10.1086/203279

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  • It has been argued, but is less likely, that brow ridges play a role in resisting loading of the jaws, the masticatory loading hypothesis.

    “it has also been argued, but is less likely, that they play a role in resisting loading of the jaws (masticatory loading hypothesis) 68”

    From The evolutionary history of the human face (2019) · cites this paper as [68]

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Authors
Russell, M. D., Brown, T., Garn, S. M., Giris, F., Turkel, S., İşcan, M. Y., Oyen, O. J., Jacobshagen, B., Pietrusewsky, M., Rightmire, G. P., Smith, F. H., Turner, C. G., & Živanović, S.
ORCID
Venue
Current Anthropology
Publisher
University of Chicago Press
Published
1985-06
Volume
26
Issue
3
Pages
337-360
ISSN
  • 0011-3204 (ISSN-L)
  • 1537-5382
DOI
10.1086/203279
OpenAlex
W2263249750
Cited by
107
References
68
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 4 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 4
FWCI
18.62
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
Current Anthropology (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Archeology › Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies
  • Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Geometry and Topology › Morphological variations and asymmetry
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Primate Behavior and Ecology
Keywords
bending stress, masticatory muscles, bite force, ontogenetic adaptation, biomechanical modeling, area moment of inertia, bending moment, skull biomechanics

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