Configurational approach to identifying the earliest hominin butchers

A re-evaluation of fossil evidence from the Dikika site in Ethiopia's Lower Awash Valley challenges claims that Australopithecus afarensis, a species previously unlinked to butchering, engaged in tool-assisted meat-eating approximately 3.4 million years ago. Using a taphonomic configurational approach, researchers argue that the purported butchery marks on two fossils are likely random striae caused by sediment abrasion, not hominin activity. This conclusion undermines earlier suggestions of significantly earlier butchering behavior and reaffirms that the best evidence for hominin butchery remains from 2.6 to 2.5 million years ago, associated with more derived species.

Domínguez-Rodrigo, M., Pickering, T. R., & Bunn, H. T. (2010). Configurational approach to identifying the earliest hominin butchers. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107(49), 20929–20934. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1013711107