Human diet : its origin and evolution

Diet is key to understanding the past, present, and future of our species. Much of human evolutionary success can be attributed to our ability to consume a wide range of foods. On the other hand, recent changes in the types of foods we eat may lie at the root of many of the health problems we face today. To deal with these problems, we must understand the evolution of the human diet. Studies of traditional peoples, non-human primates, human fossil and archaeological remains, nutritional chemistry, and evolutionary medicine, to name just a few, all contribute to our understanding of the evolution of the human diet. Still, as analyses become more specialized, researchers become more narrowly focused and isolated. This volume attempts to bring together authors schooled in a variety of academic disciplines so that we might begin to build a more cohesive view of the evolution of the human diet. The book demonstrates how past diets are reconstructed using both direct analogies with living traditional peoples and non-human primates, and studies of the bones and teeth of fossils. An understanding of our ancestral diets reveals how health relates to nutrition, and conclusions can be drawn as to how we may alter our current diets to further our health. Contents 7 Chapter 1 Perspectives on the Evolution of Human Diet 9 Chapter 2 Evolution, Diet, and Health 15 Chapter 3 Post- Pleistocene Human Evolution: Bioarcheology of the Agricultural Transition 26 Chapter 4 Early Childhood Health in Foragers 43 Chapter 5 Meat- Eating, Grandmothering, and the Evolution of Early Human Diets 55 Chapter 6 A Two- Stage Model of Increased Dietary Quality in Early Hominid Evolution: The Role of Fiber 67 Chapter 7 Plants of the Apes: Is There a Hominoid Model for the Origins of the Hominid Diet? 83 Chapter 8 Hunter– Gatherer Diets: Wild Foods Signal Relief from Diseases of Affluence 116 Chapter 9 Hominid Dietary Niches from Proxy Chemical Indicators in Fossils: The Swartkrans Example 128 Chapter 10 Paleontological Evidence for the Diets of African Plio- Pleistocene Hominins with Special Reference to Early Homo 147 Bibliography 171 Index 205 About the Editors and Contributors 209