Nuts – the food of last resort
23 Feb 2009 by Evoluted New Media
Anthropologists from the University of Vienna have discovered that the earliest humans ingested large nuts and seeds, which today we would find very difficult to chew, never mind digest.
Anthropologists from the University of Vienna have discovered that the earliest humans ingested large nuts and seeds, which today we would find very difficult to chew, never mind digest.
These foods were likely to be a last resort for our human ancestors but knowing that nuts were part of their diet may give clues on human evolution.
The researchers found that the Australopithecus africanus, a human relative that lived in South Africa over two million years ago, had a facial skeleton that was well designed to withstand bites needed to crack open hard nuts. These nuts may have been a critical resource in times of famine and researchers from Vienna believe that feeding and dietary adaptations may have shaped the evolution of the earliest humans.
Researchers came to find about our ancestors nut-filled diet from 3D virtual reconstructions of fossil specimens. After scanning the fossils with computer tomography, the digital copies can be handled and measured electronically avoiding touching the precious originals again. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) was then applied to the copies to examine how they responded to loads.
This technology is also used in medicine where diagnosis and implant planning exploit the same methods as those used for investigating fossils.
By Leila Sattary
