Why Did Humans Begin Sharing Food With Each Other Over 2 Million Years Ago? — Here’s What Researchers Suggest

Humans today share their food, whether it is with a friend for just a big bite or with the whole family at the dinner table. It is considered normal to give someone a portion of our meals, but has it always been like this? We often do not realize that some of the traits and behaviors we exhibit today could have been a big part of our ancestors’ survival strategies.

This could also be true when it comes to sharing our food. Millions of years ago, before farming was even practiced, our ancestors were hunter-gatherers who often needed to work hard just to be able to find one food source for a single meal. So, why exactly did they start sharing food over 2 million years ago? Let’s dive deeper into this question in this article.

Evidence from Cut Marks and Big-Meal Bones

We can’t exactly find out when our human ancestors developed the behavior to share their food and other resources with one another, but fossil sites could still give us a hint. For example, at Olduvai Gorge in East Africa, there was an archaeological finding that was dated to be around 1.7 to 2.1 million years ago.

Scientists found bones in these locations that have cut marks that were likely created by a human stone tool. The site also contained broken bones that were likely processed to assess the marrow inside. These remains suggest that humans hunted or scavenged large animals. The cut marks in the bones tell us that they cut the meat off the bones, but this carcass would have been too large for one person to eat or manage alone.

This archaeological site, dating back millions of years ago already shows that early human ancestors collaborated and possibly shared their food with one another. They most likely divided the labor and responsibilities, where some hunted, gathered, and transported resources, while others guarded the collected supplies and processed them.

Read more: PubMed Central

Pair Bonds, Female Sharing, and Mate Protection

How Long Have We Been Caring For Each Other?

Another theory that could explain why we started sharing food was about how early humans mated and formed pair bonds. There are some models that suggest that long-term male and female relationships were strengthened by food sharing.

A study published in PubMed Central hypothesized that females could have gathered high-value resources like nutrition-rich plants and shared them with males in order to reinforce or initiate cooperation. Males who are physically stronger could have been tasked with guarding the resources and their close-knit group.

During foraging and gathering resources, individuals may be prone to theft and even attack from other animals or humans. A strategy where the males look out for danger and protect the gatherers could have been one of the survival strategies even before they were capable of hunting and cooking. In other words, females may have shared food with males in exchange for protection, to build trust, increase cooperation, and for mutual benefits.

Social Benefits — Trust, Reciprocity, and Group Stability

Beyond just pair-bonding and the relationship of males and females, early humans could have shared food for the general social benefits of their whole group. Hominins are very social creatures who often lived in groups. This has been their survival strategy for millions of years.

So, the bigger picture may be that people shared food in order to contribute to the group and later on have some form of reciprocity come back to them. There are probably times when some individuals were able to gather more food, and there are days when the same person did not find anything.

Due to this nature of hunting and gathering resources, it may be beneficial to develop a sharing culture within the close group. It increases every individual’s chances of survival. It makes the whole group more resilient to scarcity and establishes trust that would be helpful in facing even more environmental challenges.

Read more: Wikipedia

From Sharing to Culture — How Food Sharing Laid Foundations

The Complete History Of The Evolution Of Food

Over time, a simple sharing of gathered plant food became a culture that is passed down to generations in the human lineage. It changed how hominins lived and survived. Instead of one person trying to do everything by themselves, specialized tasks were born.

Some individuals hunted, made tools, gathered resources, and processed the carcasses. The division of labor made them more efficient as a group, and the sharing allowed them to benefit from each other’s work. Soon, as people met, planned, and cooperated to hunt or gather their food sources, it became more than just a survival necessity.

The act of sharing food became central to the culture of social events. The meals became a time to promote a sense of community, the use of language, and the development of social rules. Archaeological evidence also supports this theory, where the early humans gathered around places for common activity, such as the campfire, tool-making sites, and butchering grounds. These places reinforced their social bonds and identity as a group.

Author's Final Thoughts

So, why did humans share food with one another over 2 million years ago? Well, the short answer is for survival, but the reasons were complex and multifaceted. Females could have shared food with males to reinforce cooperation and ensure protection. While social groups could have done it to increase the chances of survival of each individual, since there are days when one would find an abundance of food, but there are also times when they won’t.

The act of sharing food likely started as a survival strategy, but it evolved over time to be more. It became an event where culture is established and connections are strengthened. Sharing paved the way for the human societies that we live in today. So, maybe each time we share a meal, we could remember that it was once an ancient human tradition that turned survival into community.

Read next: Are There Hidden Signs That Suggest You Might Have Denisovan DNA? — Here Are 6 Clues Scientists Have Found

References & Further Reading

Alger, I. et al. (2023). The evolution of early hominin food production and sharing. PMC (National Institutes of Health). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10288599/

Jaeggi, A. V., et al. (2013). Reciprocity explains food sharing in humans and other primates. PMC (NIH). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3757985/

Domínguez-Rodrigo, M. (1997). Meat-eating by early hominids at the FLK 22 Zinjanthropus site, Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania): an experimental approach using cut-mark data. Journal of Human Evolution. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9467775/

Domínguez-Rodrigo, M. et al. (2022). A case of hominin scavenging 1.84 million years ago from Olduvai Gorge. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. https://nyaspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nyas.14727

Allen-Arave, W., et al. (2008). Reciprocal altruism, rather than kin selection, maintains nepotistic food transfers on an Ache reservation. Evolution and Human Behavior. Available via academic archives