Research conducted in part by Rutgers University faculty and post-graduates reveals that ancestors incorporated aquatic animals into their diet nearly two million years ago, which fueled the development of a larger, more human-like brain.
A report published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences today said a a four-year excavation in Northern Kenya found that early man fed on animals rich in brain-growing nutrients like fish, turtles and crocodiles.
“This is the first time we’ve really seen aquatic resources being a component of the hominid diet,” said Dr. David R. Braun, a former Rutgers student and current archaeology professor at the University of Cape Town in South Africa.
Dr. Jack Harris, a professor for Rutgers’ Department of Anthropology, and Braun jointly directed the excavation, located in the northern part of the fossil-rich Koobi Fora research area. Geologists determined the site to be 1.95 million years old
Dr. Jack McCoy, who received his doctorate from Rutgers in 2008, served as lead zoo-archaeologist and identified the bones of at least 10 different mammals.
“That shows some of the depth of the diet,” McCoy said. “People have hypothizied that’s what was going on. But what was so remarkable about this is site we found the evidence, in the ground and in one place. It was well-dated, too, which is really nice.”
The site, a very remote location near the Ethiopian border, was first found by Harris, Braun and McCoy in 2004. Excavation began in earnest in 2006 and continued through 2009, Braun said.
Some of the research was conducted by the Koobi Fora Field School, a collaborative research and training program directed by Harris that involves Rutgers University students with the National Museum of Kenya.
Source: NJ com