Department of Anthropology, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA.
Science. 2011 Oct 14;334(6053):190-3. doi: 10.1126/science.1207701.
Diet changes are considered key events in human evolution. Most studies of early hominin diets focused on tooth size, shape, and craniomandibular morphology, as well as stone tools and butchered animal bones. However, in recent years, dental microwear and stable isotope analyses have hinted at unexpected diversity and complexity in early hominin diets. Some traditional ideas have held; others, such as an increasing reliance on hard-object feeding and a dichotomy between Australopithecus and Paranthropus, have been challenged. The first known evidence of C(4) plant (tropical grasses and sedges) and hard-object (e.g., seeds and nuts) consumption dates to millions of years after the appearance of the earliest probable hominins, and there are no consistent trends in diet change among these species through time.
饮食变化被认为是人类进化的关键事件。大多数关于早期人类饮食的研究都集中在牙齿的大小、形状和颅颌形态，以及石器和被屠宰动物的骨骼上。然而，近年来，牙齿微观磨损和稳定同位素分析暗示了早期人类饮食的出乎意料的多样性和复杂性。一些传统的观点仍然存在；另一些观点，如对硬物体喂养的依赖增加以及南方古猿和傍人之间的二分法，都受到了挑战。第一个已知的 C(4)植物（热带草和莎草）和硬物体（例如，种子和坚果）消耗的证据可以追溯到最早的可能人类出现后的数百万年，而在这些物种中，饮食的变化并没有随着时间的推移而呈现出一致的趋势。
