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New Technologies Challenge Old Ideas About Early Hominid Diets

New assessments by researchers using the latest high-tech tools to study the diets of early hominids are challenging long-held assumptions about what our ancestors ate, says a study by the University of Colorado Boulder and the University of Arkansas.

By analyzing microscopic pits and scratches on hominid teeth, as well as stable isotopes of carbon found in teeth, researchers are getting a very different picture of the diet habitats of early hominids than that painted by the physical structure of the skull, jawbones and teeth. While some early hominids sported powerful jaws and large molars — including Paranthropus boisei, dubbed “Nutcracker Man” — they may have cracked nuts rarely if at all, said CU-Boulder anthropology Professor Matt Sponheimer, study co-author. (more…)

‘Ancient Hominid Males Stayed Home While Females Roamed’

By Guest PostJune 7, 2011Scienceantelope, australopithecus africanus, baboons, basalt, bipedal hominid species, bipedalism, darryl de ruiter, early hominids, ethiopian fossil, female teeth, fossilized teeth, gadabout gals, geological substrates, Germany, granite, high tech analysis, hominid family tree, hyraxes, julia lee thorp, laser ablation, leipzig, local geology, lucy, male hominid teeth, mammal teeth, matt sponheimer, max plank institute for evolutionary anthropology, paranthropus boisei, paranthropus robustus, quartzite, sandi copeland, sandstone, South Africa, south african savannah, sterkfontein and swartkans cave systems, strontium isotope, strontium isotope signatures, university of colorado boulder

The males of two bipedal hominid species that roamed the South African savannah more than a million years ago were stay-at-home kind of guys when compared to the gadabout gals, says a new high-tech study led by the University of Colorado Boulder.

The team, which studied teeth from a group of extinct Australopithecus africanus and Paranthropus robustus individuals from two adjacent cave systems in South Africa, found more than half of the female teeth were from outside the local area, said CU-Boulder adjunct professor and lead study author Sandi Copeland. In contrast, only about 10 percent of the male hominid teeth were from elsewhere, suggesting they likely grew up and died in the same area. (more…)

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New Technologies Challenge Old Ideas About Early Hominid Diets

‘Ancient Hominid Males Stayed Home While Females Roamed’