ABSTRACT
The importance of food in human evolution and demographic growth is emphasized. The long-accepted ‘hunter-gatherer’ savannah theory of hominin evolution has never been subject to rigorous scientific scrutiny and the proposal that a branch of the ape family decided to stand upright because he could see further over the grass and started to walk and run as a preferred means of locomotion is difficult to accept and is not supported by parallel development in other species.
Increasing scientific evidence suggests that early hominins evolved in a different semi-aquatic habitat where there was abundant availability of essential phospholipids. These vital metabolites were not readily obtainable in the savannah food chain and without them hominins could not have developed the larger brain and neuro-physiological sophistication.
The importance of fire and cooking food was another vital factor which meant that hominins could digest food more quickly. It also meant that their digestive tract was able to shorten significantly, allowing diversion of blood and energy resources from the gut to the brain. This allowed neurological growth, fuelled by the availability of phospholipids.
Increasing domestication, advances during the Cognitive Revolution, agricultural origins and the Neolithic Revolution are discussed and important archaeological finds in the Levant. Rapid developments in agriculture and the industrial revolution during the past two are discussed. (214 words)
