Post by Azurerana on Nov 12, 2006 13:24:28 GMT -5
Tooth Finding Shakes Human Family Tree
11.09.06, 12:00 AM ET
THURSDAY, Nov. 9 (HealthDay News) -- Vaporized gas from million-year old tooth enamel is stirring debate on how modern humans' ancient kin won the evolutionary race.
The research focuses on Paranthropus robustis, a genus of small, upright-walking hominids that once coexisted with the early Homo genus in Africa but died out about 1 million years ago.
Based on their relatively huge jaws and teeth, anthropologists have long assumed that Paranthropus dwindled away because they only ate grasses, which began to disappear as the continent's climate got drier. Homo, on the other hand, had a more varied diet, so it adapted and flourished.
But high-tech research is taking a bite out of that theory.
Re-examination of Paranthropus tooth enamel suggests this creature ate not only grasses, but fruits, nuts and even meat or animal products -- much like its neighbor, Homo. It also hints at a level of intelligence and adaptability in Paranthropus that scientists had never guessed at before.
Instead of passively hoping to find one type of food, " Paranthropus is now looking at the same landscape, but they are looking at it differently -- looking at what kinds of things are available for eating," explained lead researcher Matt Sponheimer, a professor of anthropology at the University of Colorado, in Boulder.
His team published its findings in the Nov. 10 issue of Science.
Both modern Homo sapiens and Paranthropus arose from the ancient hominid line known as Australopithecus, made famous by "Lucy," a 3 million-year-old female fossil unearthed in Ethiopia 30 years ago.
"Her line gave birth to two other lines, one of which is Homo and the other of which is Paranthropus," Sponheimer explained.
Beginning about 1.8 million years ago, the two lines coexisted in Africa for more than a million years. In fact, remains of both Homo and Paranthropus have been found in the same cave in Swartkrans, South Africa.
Article
11.09.06, 12:00 AM ET
THURSDAY, Nov. 9 (HealthDay News) -- Vaporized gas from million-year old tooth enamel is stirring debate on how modern humans' ancient kin won the evolutionary race.
The research focuses on Paranthropus robustis, a genus of small, upright-walking hominids that once coexisted with the early Homo genus in Africa but died out about 1 million years ago.
Based on their relatively huge jaws and teeth, anthropologists have long assumed that Paranthropus dwindled away because they only ate grasses, which began to disappear as the continent's climate got drier. Homo, on the other hand, had a more varied diet, so it adapted and flourished.
But high-tech research is taking a bite out of that theory.
Re-examination of Paranthropus tooth enamel suggests this creature ate not only grasses, but fruits, nuts and even meat or animal products -- much like its neighbor, Homo. It also hints at a level of intelligence and adaptability in Paranthropus that scientists had never guessed at before.
Instead of passively hoping to find one type of food, " Paranthropus is now looking at the same landscape, but they are looking at it differently -- looking at what kinds of things are available for eating," explained lead researcher Matt Sponheimer, a professor of anthropology at the University of Colorado, in Boulder.
His team published its findings in the Nov. 10 issue of Science.
Both modern Homo sapiens and Paranthropus arose from the ancient hominid line known as Australopithecus, made famous by "Lucy," a 3 million-year-old female fossil unearthed in Ethiopia 30 years ago.
"Her line gave birth to two other lines, one of which is Homo and the other of which is Paranthropus," Sponheimer explained.
Beginning about 1.8 million years ago, the two lines coexisted in Africa for more than a million years. In fact, remains of both Homo and Paranthropus have been found in the same cave in Swartkrans, South Africa.
Article