Dehydration and persistence hunting in Homo erectus

Area of Science:

• Human evolution
• Paleoanthropology
• Physiological modeling

Background:

• Persistence hunting is a proposed key strategy for meat acquisition in Homo erectus.
• Dehydration due to sweating during prolonged locomotion in hot conditions may have limited this hunting strategy.
• The invention of water containers is thought to have overcome dehydration limitations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the extent to which dehydration limited persistence hunting in Homo erectus.
• To simulate persistence hunts under realistic environmental conditions.
• To estimate water loss and physiological limits for Homo erectus during hunting.

Main Methods:

• Simulated ambient conditions and spatiotemporal characteristics of persistence hunts in the Kalahari.
• Utilized a validated heat exchange model to estimate water loss in Homo erectus and a modern Kalahari hunter.
• Defined a 10% body mass water loss as the physiological dehydration limit for a hunt without drinking.

Main Results:

• Homo erectus could hunt for 5.5-5.7 hours without drinking under simulated Kalahari conditions.
• This duration exceeds the 5-hour criterion for ruling out dehydration as a limit.
• Hunt duration without drinking was negatively related to relative body surface area.

Conclusions:

• Homo erectus was capable of persistence hunting large prey for extended periods without carrying water.
• Dehydration was likely not a critical limiting factor for persistence hunting in Homo erectus.
• This finding has implications for understanding early human subsistence strategies and capabilities.