The evolution of maternal care in Australopithecus africanus

Luca Fiorenza
July 15, 2019

Our new study on two-million-year-old teeth from Australopithecus africanus fossils, published in Nature, reveals the impact of seasonal climatic changes on the survival of this species. Together with Dr. Renaud Joannes-Boyau from Souther Cross University and Dr. Justin W. Adams, we have analysed the chemical composition of fossilised teeth.

Australopithecus africanus mothers breastfed their infants for the first 12 months after birth, and continued to supplement their diets with breastmilk during periods of food shortage. This finding demonstrates why early human ancestors had fewer offspring and extended parental care.

Luca Fiorenza

Luca is Head of the Palaeodiet Research Lab and he received his Bachelor/Master degree in Natural Sciences in 2003 at La Sapienza University in Rome (Italy), and completed his PhD in Biological Sciences between the Goethe University and the Senckenberg Research Institute (Frankfurt, Germany) at the end of 2009. During his doctoral degree he was part of an outstanding multidisciplinary network called EVAN (European Virtual Anthropology Network), where he mastered cutting-edge techniques for the study of anatomical variability, including medical imaging, 3D digitisation, display, modelling and programming. Luca’s research interests mostly focus on functional morphology of the masticatory apparatus in human and non-human primates, and on the importance of the role of diet in human evolution.