Technical Note: Using elliptical best fits to characterize dental shapes

A variety of geometric morphometric methods have recently been used to describe dental shape variation in human evolutionary studies. However, the applicability of these methods is limited when teeth are worn or are difficult to orient accurately. Here we show that elliptical best fits on outlines of dental tissues below the crown provide basic size- and orientation-free shape descriptors. Using the dm2 and M3 as examples, we demonstrate that these descriptors can be used for taxonomic purposes, such as distinguishing between Neanderthal and recent modern human teeth. We propose that this approach can be a useful alternative to existing methodology.