CONCLUSIONS

In this work we evaluated how well 3D models reconstructed from ordinary photographs are suited for palaeontological investigations. As a test case we studied if an analysis of the buccal side enamel edge facets of the lower molars of rhinoceroses reveals information about the dietary regimes of these animals in the way mesowear analysis does. The reconstructed 3D models we obtained are consistent with models obtained by needle or laser scanners, although the achieved resolution is somewhat lower, resulting in a slight loss of detail of the models. However, the models were nevertheless sufficiently accurate to allow an investigation of the molar wear facets, which typically are just a few millimetres wide. Thus we are convinced that 3D models obtained from photographs are sufficiently accurate to provide the information necessary for many different palaeontological studies.

The shape of the enamel edge of the buccal lower molars varies greatly among the different species of rhinoceroses as illustrated in Figure 1. Most of this variation is explained by the differences in how the species feed. The amount of attrition and abrasion in the teeth of an animal depends on its diet and can therefore be used when trying to reconstruct palaeodiets. For upper molars the ratio of the amounts of attrition and abrasion, which is determined by the degree of facet formation, can be estimated by classical mesowear analysis, where the sharpness and height of the buccal cusps are studied. In this work we studied if the lower molar wear facets in rhinoceroses can be similarly used to estimate the abrasiveness of the diet. The results we obtained in our test case seem to indicate that these facets are relatively well suited for estimating the abrasiveness of the diet. There appears to be a strong correlation between the data obtained from the lower molar facets (Figure 8, Figure 9) with the data obtained from a mesowear analysis of the upper molars (Figure 7).

Of those species included as test cases in this study, the Pleistocene rhinoceros species Stephanorhinus kirchbergensis and S. hundsheimensis are browsers. The species S. hemitoechus seems to have been feeding on a diet that was slightly more abrasive than the diet of de facto browsing rhinoceroses, but notably less abrasive than the diet of the Recent graze-dominated mixed feeder Rhinoceros unicornis. Mesowear data places the woolly rhinoceros Coelodonta antiquitatis between R. unicornis and the extreme grazer Ceratotherium simum, which makes it a grazer, as expected. However, its diet was on the average not quite as abrasive as the diet of C. simum.