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2024-11-11

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Three Million Years Ago, Our Ancestors Were Vegetarian (www.wits.ac.za)

submitted 20 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago) by [email protected] to c/science

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/24943429

Human ancestors like Australopithecus – which lived around 3.5 million years ago in southern Africa – ate very little to no meat, according to new research published in the scientific journal Science. This conclusion comes from an analysis of nitrogen isotope isotopes in the fossilized tooth enamel of seven Australopithecus individuals. The data revealed that these early hominins primarily relied on plant-based diets, with little to no evidence of meat consumption.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago)

Not really surprising as we had recently evolved to stand on two legs and probably lacked the brain power to hunt effectively. We only started using fire sometime during the following two million years as a we transitioned into "modern" humans. Fire was likely a huge motivator to begin consuming meat once the maillard reaction was "discovered". The last ice age probably kicked out hunting skills into high gear due to sparse vegetation and the need to consume more fats and proteins.