Tools and Termites: Implications for the Foraging Behavior of the Swartkrans Hominids.

Evolution of Human Diet;Paranthropus;Australopithecus;Macrotermes;Anthropology and Archaeology;Social Sciences;Anthropology

Lesnik, Julie J.Speth, John D. ;

University of Michigan

关键词: Evolution of Human Diet;    Paranthropus;    Australopithecus;    Macrotermes;    Anthropology and Archaeology;    Social Sciences;    Anthropology;   

Others  :  https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/89755/lesnikju_1.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

瑞士|英语

来源: The Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship

【 摘 要 】

Termites have recently become a subject of interest for paleoanthropologists.In 2001, Backwell and d’Errico reported evidence of termite foraging by the Swartkrans hominids as seen in the wear patterns on bone tools from the site.This conclusion has been credited by some to be a plausible explanation for unexpected carbon isotope signatures present in South African hominid teeth that suggest the diet was different from that of extant non-human great apes, consisting of a significant amount of resources not from woody plants.Grass-eating termites such as the genus Trinervitermes are one potential resource that could contribute to the carbon signature.However, not all termites forage for grass, and in fact, Macrotermes, the termites most widely consumed by chimpanzees and by many present-day human populations, almost exclusively forage on the remains of woody plants and therefore would not contribute to the signature.This dissertation focuses on how the bone tools were being used in order to address which termites were being consumed and their nutritional role in the hominid diet.One possibility is that they were used in a manner similar to ;;perforating,” a complex action utilized by the chimpanzees of the Goualougo Triangle, Republic of Congo, to use a stick to reopen the exit/entry holes created by termites on their mounds.After analyzing observations of this action, the task was recreated with experimental bone tools and the wear patterns compared to those on the ends of the Swartkrans bone tools.Digging into Trinervitermes mounds was also investigated.The wear pattern analyses were inconclusive, and the best support for which termites would have been consumed comes from behavioral and ethnographic data.Termites of the genus Macrotermes may be the most likely resource for Plio-Pleistocene hominids since they are highly selected by both chimpanzees and humans.These termites would not contribute to the surprising carbon isotope signature, but if both the soldiers and alates were being consumed, they would provide a reliable source of protein and fat, which are valuable for larger brained hominids navigating the South African savanna.