Hominins selected “healthy” places to live 500,000 to 100,000 years ago

Paleolithic handaxe. Image: José-Manuel Benito

There was plenty of real estate available in the Paleolithic. Hominins and early Homo sapiens probably choose sites according to many factors. Those choosing sites providing better nutritional opportunities were more likely to survive and create new generations.

The handaxe was an advanced Paleolithic tool used in procuring meat and tubers. By analyzing archeological sites on the British and French sides of the English Channel with a high number of handaxes (500 or more), researchers from the University of Southampton identified the types of sites preferred by hominins. Peter Franklin of University of Southampton writes:

“The high concentration of these artefacts suggests significant activity at the sites and that they were regularly used by early hominins.”

Lead author Professor Tony Brown, a physical geographer at the University of Southampton, commented on the study:

"Our research suggests that floodplain zones closer to the mouth of a river provided the ideal place for hominin activity, rather than forested slopes, plateaus or estuaries.

The floodplains provided "seasonal macronutrient advantages" and "could have provided foods rich in key micronutrients, which are linked to better health, the maintenance of fertility and minimization of infant mortality."

Professor Brown on the healthy nature of these sites:

"We can speculate that these types of locations were seen as 'healthy' or 'good' places to live which hominins revisited on a regular basis. If this is the case, the sites may have provided 'nodal points' or base camps along nutrient-rich route-ways through the Palaeolithic landscape, allowing early humans to explore northwards to more challenging environments."

Sources:

• Nutrients in food vital to location of early human settlements
• Site Distribution at the Edge of the Palaeolithic World: A Nutritional Niche Approach

Related Posts

• Paleolithic People: The Pericú
• Carnivory shortened breast-feeding periods during human evolution

Caving for Fossil Hominins

John Durant: Early agriculturalists adapted to pathogens

John Durant's recently published book, The Paleo Manifesto, is excellent. Not a Paleo guide per se, but a wide-ranging look at the anthropology, history, and physiology underlining the Paleo approach to health. Transitioning from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to farming was hard on human health. Durant on how humankind adapted:

Whether or not early agriculturalists realized it, many ancient cultural practices were adaptations against pathogens. For example, spices have antimicrobial properties, which made them a healthy addition to food in an era before refrigeration. It is not a coincidence that equatorial ethnic cuisines are particularly spicy (food spoils faster in hot climates) and recipes for meat dishes tend to call for more spices than do vegetables dishes (meat spoils faster than plants). Water in early cities was often filthy, which helps explain the emergence of sterile alternatives such as wine (microbes can’t survive in alcohol) and hot tea (boiling kills microbes). Early people didn’t know that invisible bacteria were causing cavities, but many still ended up using “toothbrushes” – wooden chewing sticks containing a natural antiseptic or treated with one.

Recycling: “a basic survival strategy”

Middle Paleolithic flint Levallois chip. Image Roulex_45.Recycling may be as old as humankind. At a recent conference on "The Origins of Recycling" Phys.Org interviewed several of the participants including archaeologist Avi Gopher of Tel Aviv University.

In a hominid cave near Tel Aviv, believed to have been variably occupied from 200,000 to 420,000 years ago, Gopher’s team “uncovered flint chips that had been reshaped into small blades to cut meat—a primitive form of cutlery.” Gopher noted:

“Some 10 percent of the tools found at the site were recycled in some way. It was not an occasional behavior; it was part of the way they did things, part of their way of life.” (emphasis added)

“…the early appearance of recycling highlights its role as a basic survival strategy.” (emphasis added)

Paleolithic People: The Pericú

This public domain image is thought to represent two Pericú women. The Pericú, now extinct, were among the first inhabitants of the southernmost portion Baja California known as the Cape Region. Evidence of Pericú occupation dates back to 9000 B.P. The two figures in this image appear fit and the bow & arrow indicates involvement in hunting. Their diet included marine mammals, shellfish (evidenced by “enormous shell mounds”) and “terrestrial resources.” Possibly, the Pericú were descendants of the Paleolithic people living on the Channel Islands of southern California.

Related Entries 

• Terra: A view of Land’s End
• The Arrow People: Catching A Glimpse Of Paleolithic Man
• When Did Paleo-Indians Arrive In North America?
• Rare Look At Paleoindian Burial, Housing, And Nutrition
• Paleo Parenting

2013 & The Urge to Explore

“Ernest Henry Shackleton, Captain Robert Falcon Scott and Dr. Edward Adrian Wilson on the British National Antarctic Expedition (a.k.a. Discovery-Expedition), 2 Nov 1902.” Image: Wikimedia. PD-US – published in the US before 1923 and public domain in the US.

Tomorrow, The National Geographic Society begins celebrating their 125th anniversary. In a special issue of National Geographic magazine titled Why We Explore, the Society  is “kicking off a year of stories about the new age of exploration.” In the article Restless Genes, David Dobbs discusses with Svante Pääbo our Paleolithic ancestor's urge to explore:

No other mammal moves around like we do,” says Svante Pääbo, a director of the Max Plank Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, where he uses genetics to study human origins. “We jump borders. We push into new territory even when we have resources where we are. Other animals don’t do this. Other humans either. Neanderthals were around hundreds of thousands of years, but the never spread around the world. In just 50,000 years we covered everything. There’s a kind of madness to it. Sailing out into the ocean, you have no idea on what’s on the other side. And now we go to Mars. We never stop. Why?”

Why indeed? Pääbo and other scientists pondering this question are themselves explorers, walking new ground. They know that they may have to backtrack and regroup at any time. They know that any notion of why we explore might soon face revision as their young disciplines – anthropology, genetics, developmental neuropsychology – turn up new fundamentals. Yet for those trying to figure out what makes humans tick, our urge to explore is irresistible terrain. What gives rise to this madness to explore? What drove us out from Africa and onto the moon and beyond?

Dobb’s goes on to discuss genes that may allow us explore by giving us “great mobility, extraordinary dexterity” and “brains that can think imaginatively.” These three factors form a feedback loop: imagination acted upon by our mobility and ability further fires imagination of what is possible. Our long childhoods also play a role: “we have an unmatched period of protected 'play' in which to learn exploration’s rewards.”

Migratory waves of courageous and exploratory people carry these genes forward, which in a new environment can be further favored. As Dobbs notes, migration “would have selected for multiple genes that favor curiosity, restlessness, innovation, and risk taking” and created another “self-reinforcing loop, amplifying and spreading the genes and trait’s that drive it.”

Finally, we have our tools – such as the ship, compass, sextant, sleds, protective clothing and many other tools that allowed Ernest Shackleton (above) and his team to explore unknown lands.

This New Year, follow your urge to explore. It is our heritage.

The Arrow People: Catching a glimpse of Paleolithic man

Writer and journalist Scott Wallace joined an expedition deep into the Amazon “to track one of the planet’s most isolated and dangerous indigenous tribes, the mysterious Arrow People.” An excerpt of Wallace’s book documenting the expedition, In Search of the Amazon's Last Uncontacted Tribes, was published in the Fall 2012 issue of Mizzou Magazine. 

Expedition leader Sydney Possuelo, dedicated to encountering “vestiges of isolated tribes,” attempts to find and contact these rarely seen people. Describing what is known of the Arrow People, and “rapt with marvel and admiration,” he notes:

They live from hunting, fishing, and gathering.

To facilitate contact and communication with the tribe, Possuelo recruited members of friendly tribes. From Mizzou:

Much like Lewis and Clark’s exploration of North America 200 years earlier, the team includes members of three friendly tribes … to get information he needs to protect them.

Upon entering the land of the Arrow People, the 34-member team found vestiges – palm leaves on the ground of a small clearing used as sleeping mats and partially eaten patuá fruit – but no signs of the “flecheiros.” They moved deeper in to their territory. Suddenly, expeditioner Paulo Welker yelled:

Over here! Over here, they’re crossing the river!”

Soldado and Paulo Welker were heaving deeply, hands on their knees, by the time we reached the bluff above the river. Behind them rose the upended roots of an enormous tree that had fallen into the water. Another tree of similar dimension had fallen from the opposite bank, some 30 yards distant, an the two trunks met halfway across the river to form a single span, in the shape of a shallow V, like a bridge that had taken a direct hit in the midsection and had collapsed into the water. Vines had been strung between the barren branches that protruded vertically from the prostrate logs to form a makeshift handrail. Clearly, this was a regular transit point for the flecheiros.

“I saw one!” Welker gasped, still struggling to recover his breath. “He was naked, with long hair. Broad shoulders. Strong. He ran across the bridge. Disappeared into the woods.” He pointed across to the far side of the river.

Soldado had caught a glimpse of two flechieros (Arrow People) and added a detail: “They were naked – but for a string around their waists.”

The expeditioners left gifts signaling their wish to communicate, but there was no response and threat was palpable. It would take time for the flecheiros to mobilized members from other villages. The expeditioners backed out of the area.

We stared across the river into the trees beyond the far bank. We saw nothing but the high wall of jungle, but we could feel their eyes upon us. All we could hear was the incessant flow of the water and the rush of the blood pounding in our ears. 

References

• The Unconquered: In Search of the Amazon's Last Uncontacted Tribes
• Lost and Found, Mizzou Magazine

Anthropologist Herman Pontzer on Paleolithic energetics

In a recent post, I commented on the multi-institutional research study, published in the July 25 of Plos ONE, that challenges conventional wisdom on the role of an active lifestyle in preventing obesity. Anthropologist and the lead author Herman Pontzer discuss the study in The New York Times article Debunking the Hunter-Gatherer Workout:

The World Health Organization, in discussing the root causes of obesity, has cited a “decrease in physical activity due to the increasingly sedentary nature of many forms of work, changing modes of transportation and increasing urbanization.”

This is a nice theory. But is it true? To find out, my colleagues and I recently measured daily energy expenditure among the Hadza people of Tanzania, one of the few remaining populations of traditional hunter-gatherers. Would the Hadza, whose basic way of life is so similar to that of our distant ancestors, expend more energy than we do?

The short answer: no. The study, while adding some subtle complexity to the role of physical activity, strongly points to the nutritionaly deficient Western diet as the primary cause of the obesity epidemic:

All of this means that if we want to end obesity, we need to focus on our diet and reduce the number of calories we eat, particularly the sugars our primate brains have evolved to love. We’re getting fat because we eat too much, not because we’re sedentary. 

I would add: we eat too much of the wrong things. It is much harder to overeat when the diet consists of lean meats, fish, vegetables, fruits, nuts and berries, and contains, minimal, if any, grains, refined sugars, or dairy. While physical activity is important to great health, its major role is improving cardiovascular, neurological, and musculoskeletal health rather than reducing weight.

Physical activity is very important for maintaining physical and mental health, but we aren’t going to Jazzercise our way out of the obesity epidemic. 

Related Posts

• Do hunter-gatherers really burn more calories per day?

When did Paleo-Indians arrive in North America?

The first Paleo-Indians (AKA Paleo-Americans) are believed to have reached the western hemisphere around 14,000 years ago by crossing Beringia, the landmass then connecting Asia to Alaska. (A recent, though controversial analysis, suggests humans reached North America earlier by crossing the north Atlantic ice.)

Now, new findings at an ice age fossil site near Snowmass Village, Colorado hint at possible human migration to North America many thousands of years earlier. Following the sites discovery by a construction worker in October 2010, researchers have recovered 4,800 fossils including a Columbian mammoth. Interestingly, the most curious findings were “soccer ball-sized stones.” According to aspendailynewsonline:

The possible presence of Paleo-Indians arose when Drs. Kirk Johnson and Ian Miller, co-leaders of the dig, and others noticed small boulders where they shouldn’t have been. Several soccer ball-sized stones were found in what was once the middle of the ancient lake. The rocks were next to, above and below a partial mammoth skeleton, Johnson said Wednesday.

The stones may be evidence of mammoth hunting by Paleolithic humans. However, there is one problem: as far as we know, humankind was not in the western hemisphere at that time! The ice-age fossils are “estimated to be between 40,000 and 150,000 years old.” This would put humans in North America 26,000 years earlier than current evidence indicates.

Currently at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, the animal fossils will be studied extensively including searching for marks that would indicate butchering by humans. If they are found, it will dramatically rewrite the history of human migration during the Middle Paleolithic.

Related Post

Rare look at Paleoindian burial, housing, and nutrition

Carnivory shortened breast-feeding periods during human evolution

A recent news report on the impact of carnivory in human evolution begins with a blunt statement:

Carnivory is behind the evolutionary success of humankind. 

Hunting is known to have been a crucial event in human evolution. According to Science Daily:

Learning to hunt was a decisive step in human evolution. Hunting necessitated communication, planning and the use of tools, all of which demanded a larger brain. At the same time, adding meat to the diet made it possible to develop this larger brain.

However, developmental psychologist Elia Psouni, lead author of a new report published in PLoS ONE, points to another crucial role of carnivory:

... the strong connection between meat eating and the duration of breast-feeding... Eating meat enabled the breast-feeding periods and thereby the time between births, to be shortened. This must have had a crucial impact on human evolution."

Learn more at Science Daily and PLoS ONE.

Those Upscale Neanderthals: Cave paintings, Eagle talon ornaments, and Seafaring boats?

Cueva de Nerja. Image: Luzzyacentillo, Wikimedia Commons

Cave Paintings

 Did Neanderthals paint images of seals on cave walls near Malaga, Spain? If so, it would be a stunning find. Our Homo sapiens ancestors created the oldest previously known cave paintings 30,000 years ago: the beautiful Chauvet paintings in southern France. The newly discovered paintings in the Nerja Caves near Malaga in southern Spain are, surprisingly, estimated to be around 43,000 ago - 13,000 years older than those of Chauvet.

However, there is one small problem: as far as we know, Homo sapiens was not known to be in that region of Spain 43,000 years ago. This strongly suggests Neanderthals created the paintings and thus possessed imagination and skill not previously attributed to them.

The paintings are believed to represent seals that would have been part of the Mediterranean Neanderthal diet. The seal paintings and additional views of the cathedral-like Nerja Caves can be seen here.

Researchers will attempt to confirm when the paintings were created by determining the age of the pigments. Some specialists caution Homo sapiens may have been in southern Spain during that time after all and could have painted the images.

Eagle Talon Ornaments

Recent evidence discovered by researchers from Trent University in Ontario, Canada and the Université Bordeaux in France suggests Neanderthals wore eagle talons as ornaments or jewelry. According to the researchers:

"… it seems reasonable to argue that Neanderthals in France and Italy regularly used terminal phalanges of birds of prey. … One possibility is that they were used as ornaments...”

The abstract published in PlosOne concludes:

Here we show that, in France, Neanderthals used skeletal parts of large diurnal raptors presumably for symbolic purposes… The presence of similar objects in other Middle Paleolithic contexts in France and Italy suggest that raptors were used as means of symbolic expression by Neanderthals in these regions.

Images of the eagle talons are here. 

Seafaring Boats

Not only could Neanderthals have painted images on caves walls and made talon ornaments, they may have also built seafaring boats!

Neanderthal stone tools have been found “on the Greek islands of Lefkada, Kefalonia and Zakynthos.” Until recently, it was believed that these islands were connected to the mainland during the Paleolithic which would have allowed Neanderthals to spread there easily. Now, researchers at the University of Patras in Greece believe they have ruled out this option. In a study published in the Journal of Archeological Science, the researchers found that “…when Neanderthals were in the region, the sea would have been at least 180 metres deep.”

If Neanderthals indeed reached these Mediterranean islands by boat, their seafaring would have reached distances from 5 to 12 kilometers from shore. They may have also reached Crete, an impressive 40-kilometer journey. How Neanderthal seafaring may have developed is suggested in the abstract:

Seafaring most likely started some time between 110 and 35 ka BP and the seafarers were the Neanderthals. Seafaring was encouraged by the coastal configuration, which offered the right conditions for developing seafaring skills according to the “voyaging nurseries” and “autocatalysis” concepts.

Neanderthals painting in cavernous cathedral-like caves, wearing furs and talon necklaces, feasting on seafood, and paddling boats in to reach pristine Mediterranean islands - now that's a new image of these “cave men.” Being called a Neanderthal may become upscale. 

PlosBLOGS: "The Anthropology of Obesity"

Evolutionary analysis can prove indispensable when considering endemic obesity rates – obesity can be viewed as a problem resulting from the contrast between Paleolithic genetic programming and the present-day obesogenic environment.

PlosBLOGS: Neuroanthropology just posted a bibliography on obesity arranged in the following topics: 

• Evolution and Obesity
• Biocultural Perspectives
• Social Determinants of Health
• Change in Diet
• Obesity Culture
• Health Behaviors
• Economic Influences
• Neuroanthropology Posts

Diets changed from Paleolithic times through the agricultural and industrial revolutions. With the advent of globalization it is of no surprise that change is being observed in food acquisition, consumption, and preparation patterns. Obesogenic environments are on the rise with the homogenization of diet that occurs initially with an increase in consumption of traditional food items, and the subsequent introduction of fast foods, convenience foods, and industrialized food items that are nutritionally devoid.

 This is a great post and resource. Check it out.