Science & Tech · Science & Environment · 1 hr ago
Researchers propose ancient diving helped humans develop endurance
Two researchers propose that early Homo developed endurance partly through diving for food in shallow water, not only through running on land.
They place this repeated diving about 2 million to 3 million years ago, when people may have gathered fish and shellfish.
The idea challenges the dominant explanation that human endurance evolved mainly as ancestors chased prey across the African savanna.
The researchers point to modern sea-foraging people, who dive repeatedly and show traits such as enlarged spleens and strong respiratory and cardiovascular capacity.
They suggest diving may have helped build cardiorespiratory stamina that later supported long-distance running.
The proposal revisits water-related ideas that have faced skepticism among anthropologists, while adding a different possibility to the debate.
The researchers argue that some diving-related traits could have passed to populations with a more land-based way of life.
Researchers propose that repeated food diving by some early Homo species may have helped humans develop endurance.
The “dive first, run later” hypothesis suggests diving began about 2 million to 3 million years ago.
The researchers say diving could have strengthened respiratory and cardiovascular capacity, supporting later endurance running.
The proposal adds a waterside factor to the long-standing view that human endurance evolved mainly through running on land.
The idea has drawn interest amid a history of scientific pushback against water-related explanations of human evolution.
- Who
- Evolutionary anthropologist Josephine Joordens and physiologist Erika Schagatay proposed the hypothesis.
- What
- They argue that repeated diving for food may have helped early humans develop endurance.
- When
- They propose the diving occurred about 2 million to 3 million years ago. Their paper appeared September 17; the year is not stated.
- Where
- The proposed diving was in shallow water, including lakes or coastal waters.
- Why
- Diving for food may have improved respiratory and cardiovascular capacity, helping prepare humans for endurance running.
Proponents of the “dive first, run later” hypothesis
Proponents of the land-based endurance theory
Evidence for human endurance
Proponents of the “dive first, run later” hypothesis
Joordens and Schagatay argue that food diving may have helped early humans develop stamina.
Proponents of the land-based endurance theory
The dominant theory holds that land-based ancestors gradually developed human endurance.
Role of water in human evolution
Proponents of the “dive first, run later” hypothesis
The researchers propose that coastal or lake foraging contributed to human evolution.
Proponents of the land-based endurance theory
The land-based account emphasizes running down prey on the African savanna.
Researchers proposed the aquatic ape or waterside hypothesis.
The researchers propose that some Homo species repeatedly dived in shallow water for food.
Joordens and Schagatay’s paper presenting the hypothesis appeared in PaleoAnthropology.
Science News published its report on the proposal.
- Researchers
- Josephine Joordens and Erika Schagatay
- Hypothesis name
- dive first, run later
- Proposed period
- About 2 million to 3 million years ago
- Modern diving example
- Sama-Bajau people dive four to six hours per day
- Journal
- PaleoAnthropology
What people are saying
I could not work out [at first] if this was groundbreaking or dumb
was likely a very complex and very dynamic process
Sources
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