© 2010-2014 - university of minnesota duluth · •exploring the diets of extinct humans through...

www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/troufs/anthfood/aftexts.html#title

© 2010-2014

http://www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/troufs/anthfood/aftexts.html

• Exploring the Diets of Extinct Humans Through Paleontology

• Teeth • Skulls and Jaws • The Postcranial Skeleton

• What Is Adaptation? • Using Chemistry to Infer the Diets

of Extinct Hominids • Our Place in Nature • A Brief Who's Who of the Early Hominids • What Did Early Hominids Eat? • What Can We Say About the Diets of Fossil Homo? • Summary • Highlight: Lactose Intolerance

Diet and Human Evolution








paleontologists study fossilized remains of extinct animals and plants

paleobotanists specialize in the study of fossilized remains of plants

you’ve seen paleontology on the chart earlier . . .

The Cultural Feast, 2nd Ed., p. 17

NOTE: “hominids”

are now generally reclassified as

“hominins”

NOTE: “hominids”

“We are what they ate”


are now generally reclassified as

“hominins” --








• paleontology • paleobotanists • paleontologists

• primates • prosimians

REM paleontologists study fossilized remains

of extinct animals and plants

paleobotanists specialize in the study of fossilized remains of plants








• paleontology • paleobotanists • paleontologists

•primates • prosimians . . .

“Primates” are a biological “Order”

comprised of

prosimians (“pre-monkeys”)

monkeys apes

humans

hominids

are two-legged primates prehistoric and contemporary


now “hominins”

http://www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/troufs/anth1602/apes.html#title

http://www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/troufs/anth1602/apes.html#title

pre-monkeys (aka “prosimians”)

monkeys

prosimians

apes

prosimians

monkeys

prosimians

monkeys

apes

bipedal apes

prosimians

monkeys

apes

bipedal apes

apes that walk habitually on two legs, like you do

humans

prosimians

monkeys

apes

bipedal apes

prosimians

monkeys

apes

humans

bipedal apes

“Anthropoids”

= all living and extinct

monkeys, apes and humans

Anthropoids

apes

humans

monkeys

bipedal apes

prosimians

“Hominoids” = all living and extinct

apes and humans

aka Hominoidea


Hominoids

humans

bipedal apes

apes

prosimians

monkeys

gibbons

orangutans

bonobos chimps

gorillas

humans

Campbell and Loy, Humankind Emerging, 8th Ed., pp. 138 ff.

“Hominids”

= modern humans and their

nearest predecessors

aka Hominidae


Hominids

humans

bipedal apes

prosimians

monkeys

apes

TRADITIONAL

CLASSIFICATION

Hominids

humans

bipedal apes

prosimians

monkeys

apes

Understanding Humans:

Introduction to Physical

Anthropology and Archaeology,

11th ed.

Barry Lewis, Robert Jurmain, and Lynn Kilgore

Belmont, CA: Wadsworth

Publishing

©2012

NEW

CLASSIFICATION

NEW CLASSIFICATION

“Hominin”

= “colloquial term for members

of the tribe Hominini, the

evolutionary group that includes

modern human and now-extinct

bipedal relatives” (like “Lucy”)

Hominin

humans

bipedal apes

prosimians

monkeys

apes

Hominins

humans

prosimians

monkeys

apes

bipedal apes

Lucy

and “The First Family”

Understanding Physical Anthropology and Archaeology, 9th Ed., p. 206

example

useful markers of the earliest hominids / hominins:

• adaptations for bipedalism . . . • reduced canine length . . .


• adaptations for bipedalism • reduced canine length . . .


• adaptations for bipedalism • reduced canine length …

which is walking habitually on two legs, like you do


• adaptations for bipedalism . . .

•reduced canine length

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4900946.stm



• adaptations for bipedalism . . .

•reduced canine length

and canine length brings us to teeth . . .







• Exploring the Diets of Extinct Humans Through Paleontology •Teeth • Skulls and Jaws • The Postcranial Skeleton

www.newswise.com/articles/view/549004/?sc=rssn

http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/549004/?sc=rssn

useful markers of the earliest hominids / hominins: • adaptations for bipedalism … • reduced canine length …

and this is though mostly to relate to a change in diet



• herbivorous (principally plants)

• insectivorous (principally insects)

• frugivorous (principally fruits)

• graminivorous (principally grasses)

• folivorous (principally leaf eating)

• proteinivorous (principally protein eating)

• carnivorous (chiefly meats)

• omnivorous (“devours” “all”)

• locavore (principally locally available foods)

REM: diet classifications

• herbivorous (principally plants)

• insectivorous (principally insects)

• frugivorous (principally fruits)

• graminivorous (principally grasses)

• folivorous (principally leaf eating)

• proteinivorous (principally protein eating)

• carnivorous (chiefly meats)

• omnivorous (“devours” “all”)

• locavore (principally locally available foods)

diet classifications

from . . .

apes (and monkeys) still possess conical, daggerish canines

which project well beyond the surface of the opposite teeth . . .

Teeth of a male patas monkey


diastema = a space in the tooth row

that accommodates one or more teeth from the

opposite jaw








• Teeth

•Skulls and Jaws • The Postcranial Skeleton








• Teeth

•Skull and Jaws • The Postcranial Skeleton

= cranium


Modern human cranium








• Teeth

• Skulls and Jaws • The Postcranial Skeleton

the lower jaw =

mandible

and the little bony ridge inside running alongside the tongue is a

“mandibular torus”


Modern human cranium








• Teeth • Skulls and Jaws

• saggital crest • The Postcranial Skeleton


Pongid Prognathism

(Line of greatest muscle force is shown in red)


Satittal crests and temporal muscle orientations

Hominid compared to pongid

(Line of greatest muscle force is shown in red)

Postcranial =

below the head (with bipeds)

behind the head (with quadrupeds)

Understanding Physical Anthropology and Archaeology, 8th Ed., pp. 223, 128

Modern human

Postcrania

New World monkey

Sivapithecus

Homo erectus

Australopithecus

Homo habilis

Homo sapiens

Paranthropus

dates are approximate and follow Understanding Humans 2009

1.8 mya–25,000 ybp

2.4-1.6 mya

2. 5-1 mya

4.25-2 mya

15-7 mya

Moderns (Cro-magnon …) Premoderns (Neandertal …) 500,000-28,000 ybp

165,000 ybp-present

Sivapithecus

Homo erectus

Australopithecus

Homo habilis

Homo sapiens

Paranthropus


1.8 mya–25,000 ybp

2.4-1.6 mya

2. 5-1 mya

4.25-2 mya

15-7 mya


165,000 ybp-present

anything called pithecus is an ape

http://www.gastronomica.org/gastro/pages/sample3.2.html

Spring 2003

http://www.gastronomica.org/gastro/pages/sample3.2.html

Sivapithecus

Homo erectus

Australopithecus

Homo habilis

Homo sapiens

Paranthropus


1.8 mya–25,000 ybp

2.4-1.6 mya

2. 5-1 mya

4.25-2 mya

15-7 mya


165,000 ybp-present

apes are not bipeds

they’re brachiators (p. 23)

Why bipedalism?

there are a lot of theories … several of them related to food

procurement and use …

Why bipedalism?

there are a lot of theories . . . several of them related to food

procurement and use . . .

Why bipedalism?

Owen Lovejoy for example, thinks it’s

ALL about food . . .

Why bipedalism?

Owen Lovejoy for example, thinks it’s

ALL about food . . .

“provisioning hypothesis”

bipedalism relates to long-distance walking . . .

including carrying food


Possible Factors Influencing the Initial Evolution of Bipedal Locomotion in Hominids

. . . and even non-bipeds carry food . . .

Chimpanzee The Primates, Time-Life (1974) p. 71

Lovejoy’s ideas on bipedalism

specifically relate to male help in carrying food

back to the “home base” . . . known as

“provisioning”

Lovejoy’s ideas on bipedalism

specifically relate to male help in carrying food

back to the “home base” . . . this is known as

“provisioning”

. . . note male help in

“provisioning” in

Owen Lovejoy’s “provisioning hypothesis”

bipedalism is also related to tool use . . .

including such simple tools as a digging stick

(dibble / coa)

bipedalism is related to hunting

Hunting / Gathering / Collecting (foraging)

bipedalism is related to seed and nut gathering

and feeding from bushes

The Emergence of Humankind 4th Ed., p. 105

New York University Press 2005

another consequence of our primate heritage and enlarged brain is that we are blessed and cursed

with an insensate

craving for sweets and fats

• we seem especially fond of sweet-sour foods

• in nature, ripe fruits and berries

• we love animal fats and vegetable fats equally

• nuts, seeds, oily fruits

Everyone Eats pp. 33-34

these are high-calorie, easily digestible foods that are

most easily found in a rich patch following a burn


“So the human tendency to crave certain foods is

biologically grounded”


bipedalism and vision (visual surveillance)

Humankind Emerging, 7th Ed., p. 114

Eye Level and Sight

Humankind Emerging, 7th Ed., p. 114

Eye Level and Sight

and if you are a hunter, this difference makes a great difference in your hunting success rate . . .

and maybe even your own survival rate

www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/troufs/anthfood/aftexts.html#title

© 2010-2014

http://www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/troufs/anthfood/aftexts.html

© 2010-2014 - university of minnesota duluth · •exploring the diets of extinct humans through...

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