Posted on 05/04/2007 9:08:43 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
A 1999 analysis of teeth belonging to two species of hominids, Australopithecus aferensis and Paranthropus robustus, living 2 million years ago found chemical evidence that one-third of their diet consisted of grasses and sedges, or the meat of animals that ate such plants. The finding puzzled some scientists because the hominids had flat, thickly enameled molars best suited for chewing hard, brittle foods, not tough items like grass or meat. This discrepancy became known as the "C4 connundrum," named after the type of photosynthesis grasses and sedges use to create the unique chemical signature... Now researchers led by Nathanial Dominy of the University of California, Santa Cruz say they have possibly solved the C4 connundrum by showing early humans dined not on the leafy parts of grasses and sedges, but their underground storage organs, or USOs, such as corms, bulbs, and rhizomes. USOs are more brittle and thus better suited for the robust anatomical features of early humans, and they also produce the same chemical signatures as the above-ground parts of grasses and sedges, the scientists say.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
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Prehistoric onions and potatoes? Were early humans Irish?
We still eat root vegetables. Why would it be so surprising that ancestors did?
And I bet they ate the grubs that came with those plants! Ants are high in protein
I think it would be more of a headline if it read “Scientists able to prove that early humans never, ever, not even once, dug for food”
Hey, they were supposed to wait for the roach coach!
I am sure some dedicated eggheads are not trying to prove their next assertion...
“Early humans had sex!”
What a groundbreaking find that would be!
LOL!
...and I’m done with my lunch...
YEC INTREP
The Neanderthals had “Digs” too. http://www.cavemanscrib.com/
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