Were there many paleo diets?
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Transcript of Were there many paleo diets?
Miki Ben-Dor Department of Archaeology Tel Aviv University, Israel
AHS13 August 2013
Conklin-Brittain NL, Wrangham R, Smith CC (2002) A two-stage model of increased dietary quality in early hominid evolution: The role of fiber. In: Ungar PS, Teaford MF, editors. Human diet: Its origin and evolution: Greenwood
% weight (Conklin-Britten 2002)
% calories (Assuming 1.5 cal. fat/1 gr fiber)
Full explanation and references at http://www.paleostyle.com/?p=2001
Anatomy
Smaller
Colon is of a smaller gut, ¼ of Chimp colon, Little B12, max. 8% of energy
Colon is of the gut,Source of fat and B12
Milton, K. (1999). Nutritional characteristics of wild primate foods: do the diets of our closest living relatives have lessons for us? Nutrition 15:488–498
Anatomy
Wrangham proposed that cooking by Homo erectus 1.8 million years ago allowed humans to consume tubers despite their significant fiber content and humans smaller colon and teeth.
However:
◦ Archaeological evidence shows habitual control of fire only begin 1.4 million years later
◦ Genes that promote significant starch metabolism appear at the earliest only 1.6 million years later.
◦ Genes to cope with tubers’ low folic acid content and detoxification of tuber glycosides appear only recently and only among agricultural populations that consume domesticated tubers.
◦ Starch dependent bacteria found in human teeth plaque only after the Agriculture Revolution indicating low starch diet pre-agriculture.
◦ Nitrogen Isotope studies confirm low plant consumption in the late Paleolithic even though cooking was well established.
◦ Meat and fat consumption offer more parsimonious solution to the fiber problem as they are energy dense and do not have fiber so do not require cooking to be metabolized.
Genetic adaptation only in groups with post-Paleolithic consumption of tubers to:•Starch and sucrose metabolism•Folic acid biosynthesis•Detoxification of plant glycosides
Genetics
Microbiology
Genetics
Uneven Very recent?
Archaeology
Archaeology
Grinding tools and storage structure found in sites dated to a period just before agriculture
Archaeology
Archaeology
81% 87% 80% 89% 61% 78% 29% 68% 26%? 54%Animal foods
Caloric percentage of animal food for groups who were systematically studied
Ethnography
Isotopes
Isotopes
Humans
Strontium and Barium analysis in human and animal teeth from approx. 2 MYA show: “Early Homo (is) indistinguishable from carnivores” (Nature 2012)
Strontium
Africa 1.5 MYA - “The appearance of Homo is marked by a sharp drop in the number of large carnivores (>20 kgs) but not small carnivores”
Italy 0.5 MYA – Homo appear. Large carnivores drop despite increase in large herbivores.
Werdelin L, Lewis ME (2013) Temporal Change in Functional Richness and Evenness in the Eastern African Plio-Pleistocene Carnivoran Guild. PLoS ONE 8(3): e57944.
Large Carnivores Small Carnivores
Homo erectus
Paleontology
Signs of competition between early humans and large carnivores
“there is incontrovertible evidence of the convergence of human behavior with carnivore behavior”
Animal Behavior
Wolf (Canis)
Social
Monogamy
2nd Widest geographic distribution
Endurance locomotion
Prey size: 1000 kgs – 1 kg
Preying on young and old
Homo
Social
Monogamy
Widest geographic distribution
Endurance locomotion
Prey size: 6000 kgs - 1 kg
Preying on adults
Animal Behavior
Joint venture?
“our findings highlight the emergence of carnivory as a process fundamentally determining human evolution.”
Weaning in humans 2-3 yearWeaning in Chimps 4-5 years
Life History
Kuhn, S. L., & Stiner, M. C. (2006). What’s a Mother to Do? The Division of Labor among Neandertals and Modern Humans in Eurasia. Current Anthropology, 47(6), 953-981
Ethnography
Life History
Inter-disciplinary evidence supportsOne Paleolithic
Highly Carnivorous Diet
Life History
Archaeology
N Isotope
Strontium
Anatomy
Genetics
Animal Behavior
Ethnography
Paleontology
Bacteriology