Evolution’s Bite: Dental evidence for the diets of our distant ancestors
- 👤 Speaker: Peter S. Ungar (University of Arkansas)
- 📅 Date & Time: Wednesday 21 March 2018, 16:30 - 17:30
- 📍 Venue: Seminar Room, Henry Wellcome Building, Division of Biological Anthropology, Fitzwilliam Street, Cambridge, CB2 3QG
Abstract
This talk will present fossil evidence for the evolution of human diet. There are two basic categories of evidence we consider: adaptive lines (e.g., tooth size, shape and structure), and “foodprints”, or traces of actual feeding behaviors (e.g., isotopic evidence and microwear). Adaptive evidence and foodprints teach us, respectively, something about what our ancestors were capable of eating and what specific individuals in the past ate on a daily basis. Combining the two lines of evidence provides the clearest picture to date of food choice in the past, and how relates to our evolution. Specific examples are offered, including data for our early Homo forebears and the enigmatic genus Paranthropus, to illustrate the point.
Series This talk is part of the Biological Anthropology Seminar Series series.
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- Seminar Room, Henry Wellcome Building, Division of Biological Anthropology, Fitzwilliam Street, Cambridge, CB2 3QG
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Peter S. Ungar (University of Arkansas)
Wednesday 21 March 2018, 16:30-17:30