A Biogeochemical Study of the Diet of Australopithecus Afarensis

虽然饮食是人类古生物学的一个主要方面，但人类学家对生活在已知最早考古记录之前的古人类的饮食知之甚少。此外，许多用来推断早期人类饮食的工具目前提供了相互矛盾的信息，特别是关于另一个最著名的早期人类物种——南方古猿阿法种。这项研究的目的是利用化石牙齿的化学成分来分离这些古人类是否扩大了他们的饮食，包括来自热带草原的食物，如热带草、莎草和/或来自这些植物的动物食物，这些植物在化石中留下了独特的化学“特征”。这种饮食范围的扩大对于了解南方古猿阿法种是否能够利用这些食物在开阔的热带草原栖息地生存具有重要意义，这使得它们在过去几百万年非洲热带草原的传播过程中比其他灵长类动物具有优势。在美国国家科学基金会的资助下，研究人员将从埃塞俄比亚哈达尔和迪基卡地区发现的阿法种古猿和其他哺乳动物化石的博物馆样本中取样牙釉质化石，并测量其化学和同位素组成，以限制阿法种古猿及其周围生态群落的饮食。拟议的研究将涉及美国学术机构和埃塞俄比亚国家博物馆之间的国际合作，该博物馆为埃塞俄比亚内外的公众宣传和教育提供了一个场所。这项工作将为两名研究生提供研究生培训，并通过当地口译中心提供外联材料。项目结果将在人类起源研究所和加州科学院的网站上得到支持，在这些网站上，有关古代人类生活的科学问题将通过中学教育社区向公众和小学进行解释。

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.