Investigations of the human past have long suffered from the stereotype of 'Man the Hunter', an aggressive and superior predator. The reality in the early stages of hominid development was rather different.
Environmental changes opened up a new niche of woodland savannah sometime after 6.5 million years ago (mya) and new apelike creatures were not slow to exploit its opportunities. But for millions of years, these Australopithecines ate only plant foods of various types.
Later some hominids, including H. habilis and H. erectus, also began to eat non-vegetarian foods, scavenging and probably co-operating to drive predators away from their kill. Stone tools were vitally important for butchering carcasses as hominid teeth and claws were inadequate for the task.
H. erectus also hunted or at least killed animals, often taking advantage of natural traps like treacherous marshes to ambush and despatch animals already in distress.
Later stages in human development show the continual refinement of hunting techniques. Meat was important in the same way as other foods eaten by early hominids: by broadening the range of acceptable foods, our ancestors made it increasingly easy to obtain adequate supplies not only to support existing groups but also to allow them to grow and expand into new regions, as H. erectus so successfully did.
