How scientists figured out what ancient animals ate using tooth chemistry
Zinc isotopes in Late Pleistocene fossil teeth from a Southeast Asian cave setting preserve paleodietary information
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Scientists studied ancient animal teeth from a cave in Laos to see what they ate by measuring zinc in their enamel, since the old protein in bones was gone.
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A snapshot of a population at a single point in time. Can identify correlations and prevalence, but cannot determine the direction of cause and effect.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Scientists studied ancient animal teeth from a cave in Laos to see what they ate by measuring zinc in their enamel, since the old protein in bones was gone.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Max 100Randomized Controlled Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
Max 44Case Reports & Case Series
Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
Max 515 / 44
Evidence Score
A snapshot of a population at a single point in time. Can identify correlations and prevalence, but cannot determine the direction of cause and effect.
Publication
Authors
Bourgon N, Jaouen K, Bacon AM, Jochum KP, Dufour E, Duringer P, Ponche JL, Joannes-Boyau R, Boesch Q, Antoine PO, Hullot M, Weis U, Schulz-Kornas E, Trost M, Fiorillo D, Demeter F, Patole-Edoumba E, Shackelford LL, Dunn TE, Zachwieja A, Duangthongchit S, Sayavonkhamdy T, Sichanthongtip P, Sihanam D, Souksavatdy V, Hublin JJ, Tütken T
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Claims (7)
Between 1.2 million and a few hundred thousand years ago, early human ancestors like Homo and Neanderthals relied mainly on meat and other animal foods for nutrition, while earlier ancestors like Australopithecus ate mostly plants.
Throughout most of human evolutionary history, the diet of early human ancestors consisted mainly of animal-based foods, with meat being the main source of nutrition.
Analysis of zinc isotopes in ancient tooth enamel shows no link to carbon or oxygen isotopes that reflect diet type or climate conditions, meaning zinc isotopes can reliably indicate an organism's position in the food chain without being influenced by those other factors.
The zinc isotope signatures in ancient human teeth from Laos have remained unchanged since burial, because their chemical patterns match those of modern teeth and show no link to elements that typically enter bones and teeth after death, even though other organic material in the samples has degraded.
Analysis of zinc isotopes in fossilized teeth from ancient mammals in Laos reveals a predictable pattern: meat-eating animals have lower zinc isotope values than plant-eating animals, with herbivores showing the highest values. This pattern persists even after tens of thousands of years, indicating that zinc isotopes in tooth enamel can record dietary habits when other biological markers like collagen have disappeared.