gracilization
nounEtymology From gracilize + -ation or gracile + -ization.
1
Anthropology, Human sciences, Sciences A reduction of bone mass as the result of evolution.
- The last ten thousand years have witnessed a gracilization of the human cranium — and masticatory complex, in particular.2002, Peter S. Ungar, Mark Franklyn Teaford, Human Diet: Its Origin and Evolution, →ISBN, page 28:
- This early slowdown is one piece of a broader evolutionary trend known as gracilization, the tendency for modern humans to become more delicate in form. Our bones are thinner, our muscles smaller, and our faces flatter than those of earlier hominins.2025 November 27, Tibi Puiu, “This Is Why Modern Human Faces Look So Different From Neanderthals”, in ZME Science, archived from the original on 23 Feb 2026: