What is the evolutionary purpose of brow ridges on a male human skull?

Was watching Time Team the other day and one of the ways they could tell a skeleton was male was by it having brow ridges. This being the case why do men have them but not women. What is their purpose?What is the evolutionary purpose of brow ridges on a male human skull?
some might say that it's to reduce sweat or to provide protection for our eyes but our eyebrows do that fine, and the eyes don't seem to need the ridges so much because just a hard covering in that area is enough, there doesn't really need to be a ridge for it to protect. besides if we needed them for that purpose, then surely we must have needed it since we were ape shaped, and if we still needed it just the same, then wouldn't they still be as pronounced as they were then?





i think they are an evolutionary byblow that denotes our ancestry.


they probably have more to do with the developing shape of our brains, our birth and the maintenance of optimum conditions for our heads.





they lack the same definition in our heads that our evolutionary predecessors had. In pre homo sapien man they were much more pronounced, which means to me that we had need for these ridges then: we probably needed that part of our brain more, our environment probably had a hand in it too and maybe even how we physically used that part of our heads, but things have changed now so nature must have recognised that we don't need them anymore, and she's sorting it out by getting rid of it in her own inimitable way. she's so incorrigible isn't she?What is the evolutionary purpose of brow ridges on a male human skull?
Cheers!

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Women do have them but they are more prominant in males!
Shade the eyes to make hunting and fighting easier.
to make then look like a generic brad pit/val kelmer cave man for a geico commercial! ahahaha!
my brother has them I'll ask him ( slowly )
It's an aid to hearing. It helps focus sound, sound is not only perceived by the ears but also by the vibrations through the skull bone. If you don't believe me ask a person who wears glasses if they hear better with them on or off, even if their back is to the speaker.
To prevent your sweat running into your eyes. Which proves that women never work up a sweat.
I think it was protection for the orbital socket.
i dont know, but im sure that they could be on the new star trek series, all the aliens there seem to be humanoid with funny facial features. I never heard of the male only brow ridge thing, maybe it just has something to do with testosterone, only the neanderthals had it didnt they?