Nursing appears to continue in a clinical pattern in the early years for infants, seasonal changes and food shortages resulted in mothers to supplement gathered foods with breastmilk. This study gave new insight into the way our ancestors raised their young, and how mothers had to supplement solid food intake with breastmilk when resources were scarce.
These findings suggest for the first time the existence of a long-lasting mother-infant bond in Australopithecus. This shows the social organizations among our earliest ancestors – highlighting how mothers provide nutritional supplements for their offspring and the use of fallback resources emphasizes the survival challenges that populations of early human ancestor’s face in the past environments.
While the first fossils of Australopithecus were found almost a century ago, scientists have only now been able to unlock the secrets of how they raised their young, using specialized laser sampling techniques to vaporize microscopic portions on the surface of the tooth. The gas containing the sample is then analyzed for chemical signatures with a mass spectrometer- enabling researchers to develop microscopic geochemical maps which can tell the story of the diet and health of an individual over time.
Teeth grow similarly to trees; they form by adding layer after layer of enamel and dentine tissues every day. Thus, teeth are particularly valuable for reconstructing the biological events occurring during the early period of life of an individual, simply because they preserve precise temporal changes and chemical records of key elements incorporated in the food we eat. By developing micro geochemical maps, we can 'read' successive bands of daily signal in teeth, which provide insights into food consumption and stages of life.
These findings underscore the diversity, variability and flexibility in habitats and adaptive strategies these australopiths used to obtain food, avoid predators, and raise their offspring. This is direct proof of maternal roles of one of our earliest ancestors and contributes to our understanding of the history of family dynamics and childhood.
Source material from Science Daily