"We are interested in the evolution of hominin diets for several reasons. One is the fundamental concern over our present-day eating habits and the consequences of our societal choices, such as obesity prevalent in some cultures and starvation in others. Another is that humans have learned to feed themselves in extremely varied environments, and these adaptations, which are fundamentally different from those of our closest biological relatives, have to have had historical roots of varying depth. The third, and the reason why most paleoanthropologists are interested in this question, is that a species' trophic level and feeding adaptations can have a strong effect on body size, locomotion, ""life history strategies"", geographic range, habitat choice, and social behavior.
Diet is key to understanding the ecology and evolution of our distant ancestors and their kin, the early hominins. A study of the range of foods eaten by our progenitors underscores just how unhealthy many of our diets are today. This volume brings together authorities from disparate fields to offer new insights into the diets of our ancestors. Paleontologists, archaeologists, primatologists, nutritionists and other researchers all contribute pieces to the puzzle.
This volume has at its core four main sections:
· Reconstructed diets based on hominin fossils--tooth size, shape, structure, wear, and chemistry, mandibular biomechanics · Archaeological evidence of subsistence--stone tools and modified bones · Models of early hominin diets based on the diets of living primates--both human and non-human, paleoecology, and energetics · Nutritional analyses and their implications for evolutionary medicine
New techniques for gleaning information from fossil teeth, bones, and stone tools, new theories stemming from studies of paleoecology, and new models coming from analogy with modern humans and other primates all contribute to our understanding. When these approaches are brought together, they offer an impressive glimpse into the lives of our distant ancestors. The contributions in this volume explore the frontiers of our knowledge in each of these disciplines as they address the knowns, the unknowns, and the unknowables of the evolution of hominin diets."
Edited by:
Ungar
Imprint: Oxford University Press Inc
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions:
Height: 235mm,
Width: 156mm,
Spine: 25mm
Weight: 717g
ISBN: 9780195183467
ISBN 10: 0195183460
Pages: 464
Publication Date: 01 October 2006
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
I. Introduction 1: Alan Walker: Early Hominin Diets: Overview and Historical Perspectives 2: Amanda G. Henry and Bernard Wood: Whose Diet? An Introduction to the Hominin Fossil Record II. The Hominin Fossil Record 3: Peter W. Lucas: The Evolution of the Hominin Diet from a Dental Functional Perspective 4: Peter S. Unger: Dental Functional Morphology: The Known, the Unknown, and the Unknowable 5: Mark F. Teaford: What Do We Know and Not Know about Diet and Enamel Structure 6: David J. Daegling and Fredrick E. Grine: Mandibular Biomechanics and the Paleontolgical Evidence for the Evolution of Human Diet 7: Mark F. Teaford: What Do We Know and Not Know about Dental Microwear and Diet? 8: Matt Sponheimer, Julia Lee-Thorp, and Darryl de Ruiter: Icarus, Isotopes, and Australopith Dies 9 Reconstructing Early Hominin Diets Evaluating Tooth Chemistry and Macronutrient Composition: Margaret J. Schoeinger: III. The Archaeological Record 10: Robert J. Blumenschine and Briana L. Pobiner: Zooarchaeology and the Ecology of Oldowan Hominin Carnivory 11: Henry t. Bunn: Meat Made Us Human 12: John J. Shea: Lithic Archaeology, or, What Stone Tools Can (and Can't) Tell Us about Early Hominin Diets IV. Paleoecology and Modeling 13: Theoretical and Actualistic Ecobotanical Perspectives on Early Hominin Diets and Paleoecology 14: Kaye E. Reed and Amy L. Rector: African Pliocene Paleoecology: Hominin Habitats, Resources, and Diets 15: Modeling the Significance of Paleoenvironmental Context for Early Hominin Diets 16: Richard Wrangham: The Cooking Enigma 17: Joanna E. Lambert: Seaonality, Fallback Strategies, and Natural Selection: A Chimpanzee and Cercopithecoid Model for Interpreting the Evolution of Hominin Diet 18: William R. Leonard,Marcia L. Robertson, and J.Josh Snodgrass: Energetic Models of Human Nutritional Evolution V. Implications of Studies of Early Hominin Diets 19: Loren Cordain: Implications of Pilo-Pleistocene Hominin Diets for Modern Humans 20: S. Boyd Eaton: Preagricultural Diets and Evolutionary Health Promotion 21: Peter S. Unger: Limits to Knowledge on the Evolution of Hominin Diet Index
Peter S. Ungar is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Arkansas.
Reviews for Evolution of the Human Diet: The Known, the Unknown, and the Unknowable
This excellent survey of current knowledge in a burgeoning field will be potentially useful as the basis for seminars as well as basic research work. Recommended --CHOICE This excellent survey of current knowledge in a burgeoning field will be potentially useful as the basis for seminars as well as basic research work. Recommended --CHOICE
