Enamel Time Capsules Reveal Africa’s 4-Million-Year Environmental Shifts

Scientists analyze enamel powder from fossil teeth in Ethiopia’s Afar region to read chemical clues about ancient diets and landscapes, showing forests, lakes and woodlands gave way to expanding grasslands 2–3 million years ago and that early humans like Australopithecus afarensis had flexible diets, a pattern linked to tectonic-driven climate changes and the emergence of tool use and upright walking.