Early hominid utilisation of fish resources and implications for seasonality and behaviour

Stewart, Kathlyn M.

doi:10.1006/jhev.1994.1044

Cited by 126 publications

(119 citation statements)

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“…The evidence from FwJj 20 indicates that hominins were very effective at securing access to a wider variety of highquality animal tissues than has been previously documented. Some of these resources would have provided necessary dietary resources without the added predation risks associated with interactions with large mammalian carnivores that are sometimes involved with the acquisition of elements of large mammal carcasses (28,33). In addition, although animal tissues provide nutrient-rich fuel for a growing brain, aquatic resources (e.g., fish, crocodiles, turtles) are especially rich sources of the long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids and docosahexaenoic acid that are so critical to human brain growth (2).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Early hominin diet included diverse terrestrial and aquatic animals 1.95 Ma in East Turkana, Kenya

Braun

Harris

Levin

et al. 2010

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

247

154

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The manufacture of stone tools and their use to access animal tissues by Pliocene hominins marks the origin of a key adaptation in human evolutionary history. Here we report an in situ archaeological assemblage from the Koobi Fora Formation in northern Kenya that provides a unique combination of faunal remains, some with direct evidence of butchery, and Oldowan artifacts, which are well dated to 1.95 Ma. This site provides the oldest in situ evidence that hominins, predating Homo erectus, enjoyed access to carcasses of terrestrial and aquatic animals that they butchered in a wellwatered habitat. It also provides the earliest definitive evidence of the incorporation into the hominin diet of various aquatic animals including turtles, crocodiles, and fish, which are rich sources of specific nutrients needed in human brain growth. The evidence here shows that these critical brain-growth compounds were part of the diets of hominins before the appearance of Homo ergaster/ erectus and could have played an important role in the evolution of larger brains in the early history of our lineage.Oldowan | Paleolithic | stone tools | paleomagnetism

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Early hominin diet included diverse terrestrial and aquatic animals 1.95 Ma in East Turkana, Kenya

Braun

Harris

Levin

et al. 2010

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

247

154

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…As most of the Kibish fish material is present as isolated elements or scatters, and as signs of cultural modification are lacking (e.g., cut-marks, charring; Stewart, 1994;Stewart and GiffordGonzalez, 1994), there is no reason to believe that the material described here was procured or processed by humans. However, the presence of barbed bone points in Member IV ( Fig.…”

Section: Human Interaction With the Fish Faunamentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Fish are generally considered to have been a seasonal food source, capable of being procured chiefly during the rainy season, when many species move onto the shallow floodplain to spawn (Stewart, 1994). Some species, including Clarias, may be hunted with bare hands at this time (Gautier and Van Neer, 1989;Stewart, 1994), though the large size of the individuals found in Kibish may have precluded this.…”

Section: Human Interaction With the Fish Faunamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some species, including Clarias, may be hunted with bare hands at this time (Gautier and Van Neer, 1989;Stewart, 1994), though the large size of the individuals found in Kibish may have precluded this. Other species, like cichlids or the cyprinid Barbus, would require spears to catch (Stewart, 1994;Stewart and Gifford-Gonzalez, 1994).…”

Section: Human Interaction With the Fish Faunamentioning

confidence: 99%

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Quaternary fossil fish from the Kibish Formation, Omo Valley, Ethiopia

Trapani

2008

Journal of Human Evolution

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“…More ambiguous evidence for the exploitation of freshwater fish, crocodiles, turtles, amphibians and molluscs by Homo habilis in the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania goes back as far as 1·8-1·1 Mya (267,269) . Subsequent tentative evidence from the Olduvai Gorge dates the use of similar aquatic resources by Homo erectus to 1·1-0·8 Mya (267,269) . Also the out-of-Africa diaspora probably took place largely via the coastlines (81) , even after the crossing of the Bering Strait into North America (270) (Fig.…”

Section: Archeologymentioning

confidence: 99%

A multidisciplinary reconstruction of Palaeolithic nutrition that holds promise for the prevention and treatment of diseases of civilisation

2012

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Evolutionary medicine acknowledges that many chronic degenerative diseases result from conflicts between our rapidly changing environment, our dietary habits included, and our genome, which has remained virtually unchanged since the Palaeolithic era. Reconstruction of the diet before the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions is therefore indicated, but hampered by the ongoing debate on our ancestors' ecological niche. Arguments and their counterarguments regarding evolutionary medicine are updated and the evidence for the long-reigning hypothesis of human evolution on the arid savanna is weighed against the hypothesis that man evolved in the proximity of water. Evidence from various disciplines is discussed, including the study of palaeo-environments, comparative anatomy, biogeochemistry, archaeology, anthropology, (patho)physiology and epidemiology. Although our ancestors had much lower life expectancies, the current evidence does neither support the misconception that during the Palaeolithic there were no elderly nor that they had poor health. Rather than rejecting the possibility of ‘healthy ageing’, the default assumption should be that healthy ageing posed an evolutionary advantage for human survival. There is ample evidence that our ancestors lived in a land–water ecosystem and extracted a substantial part of their diets from both terrestrial and aquatic resources. Rather than rejecting this possibility by lack of evidence, the default assumption should be that hominins, living in coastal ecosystems with catchable aquatic resources, consumed these resources. Finally, the composition and merits of so-called ‘Palaeolithic diets’, based on different hominin niche-reconstructions, are evaluated. The benefits of these diets illustrate that it is time to incorporate this knowledge into dietary recommendations.

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Early hominid utilisation of fish resources and implications for seasonality and behaviour

Cited by 126 publications

References 0 publications

Early hominin diet included diverse terrestrial and aquatic animals 1.95 Ma in East Turkana, Kenya

Early hominin diet included diverse terrestrial and aquatic animals 1.95 Ma in East Turkana, Kenya

Quaternary fossil fish from the Kibish Formation, Omo Valley, Ethiopia

A multidisciplinary reconstruction of Palaeolithic nutrition that holds promise for the prevention and treatment of diseases of civilisation

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