A new study of animals eaten by Homo erectus shows that ancient humans definitely ate meat, but it probably didn't supersize their brains.
The oldest evidence ofcomes from an arid hillside near the border of Ethiopia and Kenya. Though the 1.9-million-year-old fossil is only a tiny shard, more complete, if more recent individuals
For decades the theory’s proponents pointed to physical objects for support. “The archeological evidence has lined up with this,” says Pobiner. “In the 1980s, archaeologists started finding butchery marks on fossil bones in East Africa, and going, okay, early humans were eating these animals.” If the theory were true, they would have seen a higher proportion of cut bones after the emergence of, say from 10 percent to 50 percent. Instead, the proportion of butchery didn’t change with time—sites with more bones just had more butchered ones, as well. That suggests that earlier hominids were also chopping up meat, but contemporary researchers just haven’t found as many bone stashes from that period.