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Chapter 17 - How an Ape Became a Hunter

from Part IV - Evolutionary Transitions: From Primate Ancestors to Modern Humans

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 September 2021

Norman Owen-Smith
Norman Owen-Smith
Affiliation:
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
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Summary

This chapter outlines the physical changes transforming the earliest ape-men into modern humans and the associated adaptive transitions. Physical advances included (1) establishment of upright locomotion towards the end of the Miocene, (2) divergence of early humans from robust ape-men during the transition into the Pleistocene, (3) emergence of fully competent bipedal locomotion ~1.7 Ma ago, (4) attainment of modern brain capacity after 0.8 Ma, and (5) development of modern facial features after 60 ka. Diets expanded to include underground storage organs of plants to bridge the dry season. The earliest humans added marrow and meat scavenged from carcasses during a midday time window. Locomotory competence combined with bare skin facilitated hunting large ungulates by endurance running after 1.7 Ma. Meat acquisition during the dry season was facilitated by concentrations of grazing ungulates developing near water. To restrict nocturnal predation at base camps, humans needed fire. To compensate for slower reproduction, mortality rates needed to be constrained lower than those incurred by ungulates.

Keywords

evolutionary transitionsbipedal locomotiondental enlargementbrain enlargementadaptive gradesfallback foodsscavengingendurance runningevading predation
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Chapter
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Only in Africa
The Ecology of Human Evolution
 , pp. 271 - 300
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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References

Suggested Further Reading

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