Document Detail


Ecogeographic variation in Neandertal dietary habits: Evidence from occlusal molar microwear texture analysis.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  21719068     Owner:  NLM     Status:  Publisher    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
In the late Middle and early Late Pleistocene, Neandertals inhabited a wide variety of ecological zones across western Eurasia during both glacial and interglacial times. To elucidate the still poorly understood effects of climatic change on Neandertal subsistence patterns, this study employs dental microwear texture analysis to reconstruct the diets of Neandertal individuals from various sites across their wide temporal and geographic ranges. The results of this study reveal environmentally-driven differences in the diets of Neandertal groups. Significant differences in microwear signatures, correlated with paleoecological conditions, were found among Neandertal groups that lived in open, mixed, and wooded environments. In comparison to recent hunter-gatherer populations with known, yet diverse diets, the occlusal molar microwear signatures of all the Neandertal groups indicate that their diet consisted predominantly of meat. However, the results of this study suggest that plant foods did form an important part of the diet of at least some Neandertal groups (i.e., those that lived in mixed and wooded habitats). Overall, the proportion of plant foods in the Neandertal diet appears to have increased with the increase in tree cover.
Authors:
Sireen El Zaatari; Frederick E Grine; Peter S Ungar; Jean-Jacques Hublin
Related Documents :
9118028 - Lack of promotion of colon carcinogenesis by high-oleic safflower oil.
705568 - Colonic protection from dimethylhydrazine by a high fiber diet.
18926218 - Effect of bowel transection and fecal passage deprivation on the enteric nervous system...
1645468 - Effect of dietary benzylselenocyanate on azoxymethane-induced colon carcinogenesis in m...
3578258 - The reliability of dietary history from the distant past.
14988448 - A high dairy protein, high-calcium diet minimizes bone turnover in overweight adults du...
Publication Detail:
Type:  JOURNAL ARTICLE     Date:  2011-6-28
Journal Detail:
Title:  Journal of human evolution     Volume:  -     ISSN:  1095-8606     ISO Abbreviation:  -     Publication Date:  2011 Jun 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2011-7-1     Completed Date:  -     Revised Date:  -    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  0337330     Medline TA:  J Hum Evol     Country:  -    
Other Details:
Languages:  ENG     Pagination:  -     Citation Subset:  -    
Copyright Information:
Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Affiliation:
Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany; Wiener Laboratory, American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 54 Souidias Street, 106-76 Athens, Greece.
Export Citation:
APA/MLA Format     Download EndNote     Download BibTex
MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


Previous Document:  Evaluation of PPCPs removal in a combined anaerobic digester-constructed wetland pilot plant treatin...
Next Document:  An examination of groundwater discharge and the associated nutrient fluxes into the estuaries of eas...