🥕 3 million years ago … Our ancestors were vegetarians!

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Research published in the journal Science reveals that Australopithecus, human ancestors living in southern Africa about 3.5 million years ago, had an essentially vegetarian diet, with little or no meat consumption. This conclusion is based on the analysis of nitrogen isotopes in the fossil dental enamel of seven individuals, produced by a team from the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry and the University of Witwatersrand.
A turning point in understanding food evolution
The study, conducted on fossils from the caves of Sterkfontein in South Africa, shows that the isotopic nitrogen ratios of the Australopithecus are similar to those of herbivores and much lower than those of contemporary carnivores.
This suggests that they did not regularly drive out large mammals, unlike Neanderthals millions of years later. However, occasional consumption of animal proteins such as eggs or termites cannot be completely excluded.
Crédit: Bernhard Zipfel / Wits University – Licence: CC0
This observation calls into question the hypothesis that the consumption of meat has played a role from the early stages of human evolution.
If the Australopithecus was mainly vegetarian, this suggests that the transition to an omnivorous diet took place later, probably with the first representatives of the genus Homo, like Homo Habilis, who already showed signs of using tools to cut the meat.
A major technological advance in paleoanthropology
Until recently, the analysis of nitrogen isotopes was mainly limited to bones of a few tens of thousands of years, because organic matter deteriorates over time. Thanks to a new method developed at the Max Planck Institute, the researchers have managed to extract isotopic nitrogen signatures from the fossil dental enamel, a fabric much more resistant to alteration.
This advance makes it possible to study food regimes over several million years and could revolutionize our understanding of the first hominins.
A hominin (or hominin in French) is a member of the Hominina subtrusteent, which brings together species closer to modern man (Homo sapiens) than chimpanzees and bonobos, our closest living parents. Hominines include several genres and fossil species such as genres Australopithecus, Paranthropus (robust hominines specialized in a hard plant diet), Homo (including Homo Habilis, Homo Erectus, Homo Neanderthalensis and Homo Sapiens)
The interest of this study goes beyond the framework of Australopithecus. It could be applied to other fossils of human ancestors to determine precisely when the regular consumption of meat has appeared and if it has favored the increase in brain volume.
Perspectives and impact on evolution theories
The team plans to expand their research to other fossils in Africa and Southeast Asia to better understand the evolution of eating habits and their role in the cognitive development of hominins.
These results could in particular shed light on the debate on the influence of the diet on human evolution, in particular the correlation between the increase in meat consumption, the expansion of the brain and the development of technological capacities.
Finally, this study also highlights the importance of the diversity of diets in human evolution.
Contrary to popular belief, the first hominines were perhaps not all dependent on meat consumption, which puts in perspective the classic scenarios of evolution where the meat food is seen as a determining factor from the early stages of our line.
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