A multidisciplinary treatment of the importance of aquatic foods in human brain evolution
The evolution of the human brain and cognitive ability is one of the central themes of physical/biological anthropology. Based on studies of the modern human brain, certain prerequisites were needed for the development of the early brain and associated cognitive advances. Important prerequisites included polyunsaturated fatty acids and other brain selective nutrients, which are found in highest quantity in fish and shellfish. Early hominins were able to access these foods when frequenting wetlands, particularly lake and river margins. Increased consumption of this high-quality diet over time exaptively diverted energy to the brain, and was a catalyst for brain growth. The later exploitation of marine shellfish and fish is roughly correlated with the emergence of Homo sapiens, and cognitive advance associated with changing human behaviors.
Human Brain Evolution: The Influence of Freshwater and Marine Food Resources documents the energy and nutrient constraints of the modern brain, highlighting the significant role of brain selective nutrients in brain development and the evolution of neural systems. There is a particular focus on two long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFA) in brain development and maintenance—docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and arachidonic acid (AA). These nutrients are found in the highest quantity in fish and shellfish, and this volume further discusses fossil, morphological, and isotopic evidence for hominin consumption of these foods over time.
The contributors to this volume come from several fields—paleoanthropology, nutrition, neurochemistry, archaeology, and paleobiology—providing a multidisciplinary approach to the complex and challenging topic of the evolution of the brain. The first half of this volume focuses specifically on the biochemical and nutritional requirements of encephalization of the human brain, best acquired opportunistically (exaptively) through consumption of fish and/or shellfish. The second half provides multidisciplinary evidence on the exploitation of initially, freshwater and later, marine fish and shellfish, by successive hominin taxa. These persuasive, thought-provoking discussions and arguments provide the basis for a new perspective and help the reader understand the vital role freshwater and marine foods have in human brain function and, hence, evolution.
Human Brain Evolution is essential reading for graduate students, postdoctoral students, and research scientists in physical/biological anthropology, human biology, archaeology, nutrition, cognitive science, and the neurosciences. It is also an excellent supplemental text for biological anthropology or a graduate student discussion seminar.
