Evolution of the Human Diet: The Known, the Unknown, and the UnknowablePeter S. Ungar Oxford University Press, 2006 M10 26 - 432 páginas We are interested in the evolution of hominin diets for several reasons. One is the fundamental concern over our present-day eating habits and the consequences of our societal choices, such as obesity prevalent in some cultures and starvation in others. Another is that humans have learned to feed themselves in extremely varied environments, and these adaptations, which are fundamentally different from those of our closest biological relatives, have to have had historical roots of varying depth. The third, and the reason why most paleoanthropologists are interested in this question, is that a species' trophic level and feeding adaptations can have a strong effect on body size, locomotion, "life history strategies", geographic range, habitat choice, and social behavior. Diet is key to understanding the ecology and evolution of our distant ancestors and their kin, the early hominins. A study of the range of foods eaten by our progenitors underscores just how unhealthy many of our diets are today. This volume brings together authorities from disparate fields to offer new insights into the diets of our ancestors. Paleontologists, archaeologists, primatologists, nutritionists and other researchers all contribute pieces to the puzzle. This volume has at its core four main sections: · Reconstructed diets based on hominin fossils--tooth size, shape, structure, wear, and chemistry, mandibular biomechanics · Archaeological evidence of subsistence--stone tools and modified bones · Models of early hominin diets based on the diets of living primates--both human and non-human, paleoecology, and energetics · Nutritional analyses and their implications for evolutionary medicine New techniques for gleaning information from fossil teeth, bones, and stone tools, new theories stemming from studies of paleoecology, and new models coming from analogy with modern humans and other primates all contribute to our understanding. When these approaches are brought together, they offer an impressive glimpse into the lives of our distant ancestors. The contributions in this volume explore the frontiers of our knowledge in each of these disciplines as they address the knowns, the unknowns, and the unknowables of the evolution of hominin diets. |
Contenido
Whose Diet? An Introduction to the Hominin Fossil Record | 11 |
The Evolution of the Hominin Diet from a Dental Functional | 31 |
The Known the Unknown | 39 |
What Do We Know and Not Know about Diet | 56 |
What Do We Know and Not Know about Dental Microwear and Diet? | 106 |
Icarus Isotopes and Australopith Diets | 132 |
Evaluating | 150 |
Zooarchaeology and the Ecology of Oldowan Hominin Carnivory | 167 |
Theoretical and Actualistic Ecobotanical Perspectives | 233 |
Hominin Habitats Resources and Diets | 262 |
Modeling the Significance of Paleoenvironmental | 289 |
The Cooking Enigma | 308 |
A Chimpanzee | 324 |
Energetic Models of Human Nutritional Evolution | 344 |
Implications of Studies of Early Hominin Diets | 361 |
Preagricultural Diets and Evolutionary Health Promotion | 384 |
Meat Made Us Human | 191 |
Lithic Archaeology or What Stone Tools Can and Cant | 212 |
Otras ediciones - Ver todas
Evolution of the Human Diet: The Known, the Unknown, and the Unknowable Peter S. Ungar Vista previa limitada - 2006 |
Evolution of the Human Diet: The Known, the Unknown, and the Unknowable Peter S. Ungar Vista previa limitada - 2006 |
Evolution of the Human Diet: The Known, the Unknown, and the Unknowable Peter S. Ungar Vista previa limitada - 2006 |
Términos y frases comunes
Acheulean acid adaptations afarensis Africa analysis Anthropol apes Archaeol archaeological assemblages Australopithecus Australopithecus afarensis Australopithecus africanus australopiths behavior biomechanical Blumenschine bone bovid brain Bunn butchery carbon isotope carcass carnivores chimpanzees Conklin-Brittain consumed cooking Cordain cut marks Daegling dental microwear dietary early hominin diets early Homo Early Paleolithic ecological enamel thickness energy erectus evidence Evol evolutionary extant fallback foods FLK Zinj foraging fossil fruit functional grassland Grine habitats Hadza human diet human evolution Hylander hypothesis intake Kenya Koobi Fora landscape Leakey Lee-Thorp mammals mandible mandibular meat Miocene modern humans molar morphology occlusal Oldowan Olduvai Gorge Paranthropus Paranthropus robustus patterns Peters Phys plant foods Pleistocene Plio-Pleistocene Pliocene postcanine primates Primatol reconstruction relatively samples scavenging Schoeninger seasonal species specimens Sponheimer Sterkfontein stone tools studies suggest Swartkrans Tanzania taphonomic taxa Teaford teeth tion tooth troglodytes tubers Ungar University Press unknown variables wear woodlands Wrangham
Referencias a este libro
Population Dynamics and Supply Systems: A Transdisciplinary Approach Diana Hummel Vista previa limitada - 2008 |