Modeling the Edible Landscape

Abstract

Abstract Evaluating how important meat-eating was to early hominid subsistence hinges on the question “compared to what?” The answer lies in the choices that would have confronted each hominid consumer on paleolandscapes scattered with patches of seasonal plant foods. Studies of modem human foragers and nonhuman primates emphasize the dietary importance of dependable and abundant plant foods in savanna habitats. So, despite the lack of direct archaeological evidence for early hominid plant food subsistence, it is important to consider evidence for meat-eating within an omnivorous context. This chapter develops a model of early hominid plant food subsistence choices to help archaeologists think about site landscape contexts in ways that could evaluate hypotheses about meat-eating and human evolution.