Bioenergy of gathering in lactating females at Sierra de Atapuerca. An experimental design

Abstract

Because of the importance of gathering throughout the history of human evolution, this study focuses on this aspect of subsistence from a new approach: the energy expenditure of the supply of food resources. We analyze the energy consumption involved by carrying out this activity in a sample of ten women on two conditions through a research based on experimental energetics and anthropometry. In the first case, we will simulate gathering during the lactating period carrying a baby and, in the second case, with non-lactating unloaded women. Previous studies on bioenergy applied to Prehistory and Paleoantrhopology have been based on estimations from individual body weight using predictive equations. To contrast this method, we designed a study of experimental energetic using measurements in subjects in vivo, registered both at the CENIEH Bioenergy Laboratory and in the field. Several protocols (Anthropometry, Electrical Bioimpedance, ventilatory Indirect Calorimetry) will be carried out to obtain their body parameters and metabolic rates. Four field tests will be carried out using calorimetry mobile devices in the Sierra de Atapuerca, reproducing the activity of gathering on previously established routes, in both physiological situations: during lactation and during a normal cycle. As a result of this investigation, we will obtain the resting metabolic rate, total energy expenditure during gathering, and various body parameters (height, weight, lean mass, fat mass, etc.) with which to establish correlations and absolute and relative values of energy expenditure. Finally, the results will be applied to the populations who inhabited the Sierra de Atapuerca during the Middle Pleistocene to assess how their body parameters influenced the energetic cost of gathering and to measure the effect of baby carrying on gathering efficiency.