A Biogeochemical Study of the Diet of Australopithecus Afarensis

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Although diet is a major aspect of human paleobiology, anthropologists have comparatively little information about the diets of hominins that lived prior to the earliest known archeological record. Furthermore, many of the tools used to infer diets of early hominins currently provide conflicting information, particularly regarding one of the otherwise best-known early hominin species, Australopithecus afarensis. This study aims to use the chemical composition of fossil teeth to isolate whether these hominins broadened their diet to include foods derived from savannas such as tropical grasses, sedges, and/or animals foods derived from these plants, which leave distinct chemical "signature" preserved in fossils. The implications of this dietary broadening are significant for understanding whether A. afarensis could have used such foods to survive in open savanna habitats giving them an advantage over other related primates during the spread of savannas in Africa during the past several million years. With NSF funding, the researchers will sample fossil tooth enamel from museum samples of A. afarensis and other fossil mammals found in the Hadar and Dikika areas in Ethiopia, and measure its chemical and isotopic composition to constrain the diets of A. afarensis and its surrounding ecological community.The proposed research will involve international collaborations between US academic institutions and the National Museum of Ethiopia, which provides a venue for public outreach and education within Ethiopia and beyond. This work will provide graduate training for two graduate students and material for outreach through a local interpretive center. Project results will be supported on websites of the Institute of Human Origins and California Academy of Sciences, where scientific issues regarding ancient human life are interpreted for the public and primary through secondary educational communities.