Posted on 12/12/2011 12:40:57 PM PST by decimon
Dietary change led to the appearance of modern humans in the Middle East 400,000 years ago, say TAU researchers
Elephants have long been known to be part of the Homo erectus diet. But the significance of this specific food source, in relation to both the survival of Homo erectus and the evolution of modern humans, has never been understood — until now.
When Tel Aviv University researchers Dr. Ran Barkai, Miki Ben-Dor, and Prof. Avi Gopher of TAU's Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Studies examined the published data describing animal bones associated with Homo erectus at the Acheulian site of Gesher Benot Ya'aqov in Israel, they found that elephant bones made up only two to three percent the total. But these low numbers are misleading, they say. While the six-ton animal may have only been represented by a tiny percentage of bones at the site, it actually provided as much as 60 percent of animal-sourced calories.
The elephant, a huge package of food that is easy to hunt, disappeared from the Middle East 400,000 years ago — an event that must have imposed considerable nutritional stress on Homo erectus. Working with Prof. Israel Hershkovitz of TAU's Sackler Faculty of Medicine, the researchers connected this evidence about diet with other cultural and anatomical clues and concluded that the new hominids recently discovered at Qesem Cave in Israel — who had to be more agile and knowledgeable to satisfy their dietary needs with smaller and faster prey — took over the Middle Eastern landscape and eventually replaced Homo erectus.
(Excerpt) Read more at aftau.org ...
Meating of minds ping.
I’ll chip in with a little scientific speculation. If 2% of the bones provided 60% of the calories, then, given the state of ice boxes as the time, homo erectus was done in by the consumption of massive amounts of rotting flesh! :)
Actually, more likely, they used the rotting carcasses as bait for the live stuff they did safely eat. If they didn’t have a strategy to deal with the mounds of rotting flesh, then they would have been inundated with vermin and insects; hardly a healthy environment.
Yeah, and the rise of ATMs lead to the mass extinction of employment in the USA.
“The Disappearance of the Elephant Caused the Rise of Modern Man”
If by
by “Disappearance” you mean decline or downfall,
by “Elephant” you mean Reagan republicans, and
by “Modern Man” you mean Godless 0bama progressives.
elephants never dissappeared from africa or south east asia. sooo, what do we make of that?
trying ... not ... to say ... the obvious ... grrrrr!
I hope this wasn’t paid for with American taxes.
Whatever you cna get the grant providers to pay for it.
ok, give me a million and I will tell ya what to make of it
I think Professor Gopher should stick to his role in ‘The Love Boat’, obviously this science thing isn’t his thing.
If I recall correctly, there is fairly good evidence for Homo Erectus’ use of fire including the ability to make fire dating to 1.8 mil years ago. This is in Asia and Europe as well as the Middle East. Wouldn’t the lack of a major food source just prompt HE to move on to a better environment. The fact is that HE lived in many areas lacking elephants or mammoths. They adapted to other food sources quite well.
Note how more broad based food packages result in larger brains. Or do larger brains facilitate more broadly based food?
Good question. Particularly since brain capacity varies a lot in HE. From 850 cm3 to 1100 cm3 in Java which is well within the lower range for Homo Sapians. I think you are right to highlight diet. Of course the Java skulls are still markedly narrower.
All the Freepers in their 20’s and most in their 30’s are scratching their heads and wondering what you are talking about.
ugh, I know. I deliver clever comments on a daily basis that fall upon blank, unwrinkled stares...
The disappearance of my first wife was a blessing, too.
eh. what would be cool would be a wooly mammoth preserve
in Siberia.
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