The role of plant foods in the evolution and dispersal of early humans: A perspective from across the Wallace Line

Abstract

In recent years, new evidence for the early use of plant foods has challenged the stereotype of the meat-eating Palaeolithic. Whilst often making up the smaller component of the diet, plant foods are key to hominin diets, carbohydrates especially providing an efficient energy resource. This paper reviews the current evidence for the role of plant foods in the evolution and dispersal of early modern humans and our closest ancestors, with a focus on new evidence for early diet from Island Southeast Asia, Australia and New Guinea. It demonstrates the importance of plant foods and their processing, to the dietary flexibility and adaptive capacity of our species.