Ever since the antique times philosophers and scientists have been proving that humans are not much different from other animal species. For example, genetically, Homo sapiens are almost identical to chimpanzees. However, through the course of the evolution, humans diverged from other representatives of the animal kingdom. Meat consumption played one of the key roles in the human evolution as it provided needed nutrients for quicker brain evolvement.
Hunting for meat was one of the most important activities in Homo sapiens’ ancestors’ lives as it was one of the main food sources. According to Mann (2018), hominins began to consume meat approximately 2 million years ago. Raw meat was rather difficult to chew through; as a result – early humans had big teeth and a large digestive system. Those features helped them obtain the needed nutrients from the hunted meat.
The invention of sharp tools and the discovery of fire were the events that completely changed the course of human development. Sharp tools were invented specifically for better hunting, so that hominins could retrieve larger amounts of better quality meat from the hunted animals’ bodies. The fire domestication led to cooking and softening the meat, which resulted in a decrease in the time needed to chew and digest food. The outcome of these changes was massive – hominins’ once large teeth decreased in size and created more space in the skull to develop a bigger brain. Humans’ ancestors’ intestines also became smaller – due to roasting the meat, its valuable nutrients became easier to digest and the nutrients itself became more accessible, which sped up the process of human brain development (Mann, 2018). These events allowed the Homo sapiens to develop faster and more efficiently.
To conclude, humans as a species have come a long way regarding meat consumption. Due to the discovery of fire and sharp weapons, we learned to cook the meat we hunted and gained easier access to valuable nutrients, which meat contains. It sped up the evolution of humans’ brain, which then led to quicker development of language. As a result, Homo sapiens got the chance to develop into complex and highly evolved beings faster.
Reference
Mann, N. J. (2018). A brief history of meat in the human diet and current health implications. Meat Science, 144, 169–179.