Research published at the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States indicates that Homo erectus was probably the first human ancestor to use tolls and fire to prepare meat.
An analysis of molar sizes, body masses, DNA, and other characteristics from Homo erectus, Homo. neanderthalensis, Homo sapiens, living apes, and fossil apes indicate a reduction in molar size in human ancestors as well as a reduction in jaw size and gut size.
A distinct change in molar size and jaw size occurred with Homo erectus around 1.9 million years ago.
The researchers were led to consider the use of food preparation and cooking food with fire played a dominate role in the reduction of molar size, jaw size, and gut size in the development of humans.
Cooking also reduced the amount of time early humans spent in the consuming of food. Modern day apes spend about 40% of the day eating while modern day man spends about 5% of their time eating. This increase in fee time from the necessity of eating allowed man and his early ancestors more time to develop other skills like cooking.
The paper was reviewed at the Eureka Alert web site on August 22, 2011.
Paper
Phylogenetic rate shifts in feeding time during the evolution of Homo
Authors
Chris Organ a,1, Charles L. Nunn b, Zarin Machand ab, and Richard W. Wrangham b
aDepartment of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138
bDepartment of Human Evolutionary Biology, Peabody Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138
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