Henry Amanda G, Brooks Alison S, Piperno Dolores R
Plant Foods in Hominin Dietary Ecology Research Group, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
Department of Anthropology, Center for Advanced Study of Hominid Paleobiology, The George Washington University, 2110 G St NW, Washington, DC 20052, USA.
J Hum Evol. 2014 Apr;69:44-54. doi: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2013.12.014. Epub 2014 Mar 5.
One of the most important challenges in anthropology is understanding the disappearance of Neanderthals. Previous research suggests that Neanderthals had a narrower diet than early modern humans, in part because they lacked various social and technological advances that lead to greater dietary variety, such as a sexual division of labor and the use of complex projectile weapons. The wider diet of early modern humans would have provided more calories and nutrients, increasing fertility, decreasing mortality and supporting large population sizes, allowing them to out-compete Neanderthals. However, this model for Neanderthal dietary behavior is based on analysis of animal remains, stable isotopes, and other methods that provide evidence only of animal food in the diet. This model does not take into account the potential role of plant food. Here we present results from the first broad comparison of plant foods in the diets of Neanderthals and early modern humans from several populations in Europe, the Near East, and Africa. Our data comes from the analysis of plant microremains (starch grains and phytoliths) in dental calculus and on stone tools. Our results suggest that both species consumed a similarly wide array of plant foods, including foods that are often considered low-ranked, like underground storage organs and grass seeds. Plants were consumed across the entire range of individuals and sites we examined, and none of the expected predictors of variation (species, geographic region, or associated stone tool technology) had a strong influence on the number of plant species consumed. Our data suggest that Neanderthal dietary ecology was more complex than previously thought. This implies that the relationship between Neanderthal technology, social behavior, and food acquisition strategies must be better explored.
人类学面临的最重要挑战之一是理解尼安德特人的消失。先前的研究表明，尼安德特人的饮食范围比早期现代人类更窄，部分原因是他们缺乏各种能带来更多样化饮食的社会和技术进步，比如性别分工以及使用复杂的投射武器。早期现代人类更广泛的饮食能提供更多热量和营养，提高生育率、降低死亡率并支持大规模人口，从而使他们能够胜过尼安德特人。然而，这种关于尼安德特人饮食行为的模型是基于对动物遗骸、稳定同位素及其他仅能提供饮食中动物食物证据的方法的分析。该模型没有考虑植物性食物的潜在作用。在此，我们展示了对欧洲、近东和非洲多个群体的尼安德特人和早期现代人类饮食中植物性食物进行首次广泛比较的结果。我们的数据来自对牙结石和石器上植物微化石（淀粉粒和植硅体）的分析。我们的结果表明，这两个物种食用的植物性食物种类同样广泛，包括通常被认为等级较低的食物，如地下贮藏器官和草籽。在我们研究的所有个体和地点中都有植物性食物被食用，而且预期中的变异预测因素（物种、地理区域或相关石器技术）对所食用植物物种的数量均没有强烈影响。我们的数据表明，尼安德特人的饮食生态比之前认为的更为复杂。这意味着必须更好地探究尼安德特人的技术、社会行为和食物获取策略之间的关系。
