Isotopic Evidence for the Diet of an Early Hominid, Australopithecus africanus

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) - Tập 283 Số 5400 - Trang 368-370 - 1999
Matt Sponheimer1, Julia A. Lee‐Thorp1
1M. Sponheimer, Department of Anthropology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick NJ 08901–1414, USA, and Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, Private Bag, Rondebosch 7701, Republic of South Africa. J. A. Lee-Thorp, Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, Private Bag, Rondebosch 7701, Republic of South Africa.

Tóm tắt

Current consensus holds that the 3-million-year-old hominid Australopithecus africanus subsisted on fruits and leaves, much as the modern chimpanzee does. Stable carbon isotope analysis of A. africanus from Makapansgat Limeworks, South Africa, demonstrates that this early hominid ate not only fruits and leaves but also large quantities of carbon-13–enriched foods such as grasses and sedges or animals that ate these plants, or both. The results suggest that early hominids regularly exploited relatively open environments such as woodlands or grasslands for food. They may also suggest that hominids consumed high-quality animal foods before the development of stone tools and the origin of the genus Homo .

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We thank S. Ambrose L. Berger R. Blumenschine S. Cachel R. Clarke C. Feibel C. Gow J. Harris T. Hoffman P. Koch Y. Lam J. Lanham D. Lieberman C. Lockwood J. Moggi-Cecchi R. Palumbit J. Parkington S. Pfeiffer M. Raath Y. Rahman K. Reed B. Rubidge C. Schrire J. Sealy S. Semaw A. Sillen J. Tactikos P. Tobias P. Ungar and N. van der Merwe. This research was funded by NSF the Foundation for Research Development the Leakey Foundation the Wenner-Gren Foundation the Boise Fund Rutgers University and the University of Cape Town.

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American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Tập 283 Số 5400

368-370

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