Braun David R, Harris John W K, Levin Naomi E, McCoy Jack T, Herries Andy I R, Bamford Marion K, Bishop Laura C, Richmond Brian G, Kibunjia Mzalendo
Archaeology Department, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010 Jun 1;107(22):10002-7. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1002181107.
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 well-watered 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.
上新世古人类制造石器并用其获取动物组织，这标志着人类进化史上一项关键适应性的起源。在此，我们报告了来自肯尼亚北部科比福拉组的一处原地考古组合，它提供了动物遗骸的独特组合，其中一些有屠宰的直接证据，还有奥杜威石器，其年代测定为距今195万年。该遗址提供了最古老的原地证据，表明早于直立人的古人类能够获取陆生和水生动物的尸体，并在水源充足的栖息地对其进行屠宰。它还提供了最早的确切证据，证明包括海龟、鳄鱼和鱼类在内的各种水生动物被纳入古人类饮食，这些动物是人类大脑生长所需特定营养的丰富来源。此处证据表明，这些对大脑生长至关重要的化合物在匠人/直立人出现之前就已成为古人类饮食的一部分，并且可能在我们谱系早期历史中大脑变大的进化过程中发挥了重要作用。
