Fragment of jaw of a wolf from Le Moustier that was analyzed during the investigation. Credit: Hervé Bocherens/University of Tübingen |
martes, 18 de marzo de 2014
Why did humans replace Neanderthals? Paleo diet didn't change, the climate did
Why were Neanderthals replaced by anatomically modern humans around
40,000 years ago? One popular hypothesis states that a broader dietary
spectrum of modern humans gave them a competitive advantage on
Neanderthals. Geochemical analyses of fossil bones seemed to confirm
this dietary difference. Indeed, higher amounts of nitrogen heavy
isotopes were found in the bones of modern humans compared to those of
Neanderthals. However, these studies did not look at possible isotopic
variation of nitrogen isotopes in the food resource themselves. In fact,
environmental factors such as aridity can increase the heavy nitrogen
isotope amount in plants, leading to higher nitrogen isotopic values in
herbivores and their predators even without a change of subsistence
strategy. [...] sciencedaily.com
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