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Preparation of Cell Extracts by Cryogrinding in an Automated Freezer Mill

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Food material properties and early hominin processing techniques.

Katherine D Zink¹, Daniel E Lieberman¹, Peter W Lucas²

¹Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, 11 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.

Journal of Human Evolution

|December 3, 2014

Summary

Early humans likely used tools to process meat and tubers, reducing chewing effort. This food processing may have influenced the evolution of smaller faces and teeth in early Homo.

Keywords:

Cooking Diet Early Homo Fire Food processing Oldowan Tenderizing

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Area of Science:

Paleoanthropology
Human Evolution
Bioarchaeology

Background:

Early Homo is thought to have used tools for food processing more than australopiths.
The impact of these early food processing techniques on food material properties and subsequent masticatory forces is not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate how mechanical tenderization and cooking alter the material properties of meat and tubers.
To understand the implications of these changes for early hominin masticatory effort and dental evolution.

Main Methods:

Experimental study involving mechanical tenderization (pounding) and dry roasting of meat and tubers.
Analysis of changes in food material properties such as toughness, fracture stress, and elastic modulus.

Main Results:

Mechanical tenderization reduced tuber toughness but not meat toughness.
Roasting decreased several material properties of tubers, but increased toughness, fracture stress, and elastic modulus in meat.
Despite some increases in meat's material properties, roasting reduced energy loss, suggesting easier chewing.

Conclusions:

Early Homo's food processing techniques likely differed for meat and tubers.
These techniques probably reduced overall masticatory effort, potentially relaxing selection for robust craniofacial and dental morphology in early Homo.