Strontium isotope evidence for landscape use by early hominins

Sandi R. Copeland (), Matt Sponheimer, Darryl J. de Ruiter, Julia A. Lee-Thorp, Daryl Codron, Petrus J. le Roux, Vaughan Grimes and Michael P. Richards
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Sandi R. Copeland: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
Matt Sponheimer: University of Colorado at Boulder, 233 UCB, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA
Darryl J. de Ruiter: Texas A&M University
Julia A. Lee-Thorp: Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, Oxford University, Oxford OX1 3QY, UK
Daryl Codron: Clinic for Zoo Animals, Exotic Pets and Wildlife, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 260, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland
Petrus J. le Roux: AEON EarthLAB, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa
Vaughan Grimes: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
Michael P. Richards: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany

Nature, 2011, vol. 474, issue 7349, 76-78

Abstract: A dental record of australopithecine travel How do you estimate the home ranges and land-use habits of extinct species? One method is to measure the strontium isotope content of fossil teeth, because strontium isotope ratios are a good indicator of the source of the water that the creature drank during its life. This watermark is determined by the underlying geology. A strontium-isotope study of Australopithecus africanus and Paranthropus robustus specimens from South Africa shows that the smaller individuals, inferred to have been females, ranged further than the males. This suggests that females tended to move away from their natal groups and joined others, whereas males tend to stay at home, a behaviour characteristic of humans and chimpanzees, but not of most gorillas and other primates.

Date: 2011
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DOI: 10.1038/nature10149

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