Editing Aquatic ape hypothesis (section)

===Diet===
[[File:Sapiens neanderthal comparison en blackbackground.png|thumb|Neanderthal skull (right) compared with modern human]]
Evidence supports aquatic food consumption in ''[[Homo]]'' as early as the [[Pliocene]],<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Braun DR, Harris JW, Levin NE, McCoy JT, Herries AI, Bamford MK, Bishop LC, Richmond BG, Kibunjia M | display-authors = 6 | title = Early hominin diet included diverse terrestrial and aquatic animals 1.95 Ma in East Turkana, Kenya | journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America | volume = 107 | issue = 22 | pages = 10002–7 | date = June 2010 | pmid = 20534571 | pmc = 2890426 | doi = 10.1073/pnas.1002181107 | bibcode = 2010PNAS..10710002B | doi-access = free }}</ref> but its linkage to brain evolution remains controversial.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Carlson BA, Kingston JD | title = Docosahexaenoic acid, the aquatic diet, and hominin encephalization: difficulties in establishing evolutionary links | journal = American Journal of Human Biology | volume = 19 | issue = 1 | pages = 132–41 | year = 2007 | pmid = 17160979 | doi = 10.1002/ajhb.20579 | s2cid = 8544762 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Cunnane SC, Plourde M, Stewart K, Crawford MA | title = Docosahexaenoic acid and shore-based diets in hominin encephalization: a rebuttal | journal = American Journal of Human Biology | volume = 19 | issue = 4 | pages = 578–81 | year = 2007 | pmid = 17546620 | doi = 10.1002/ajhb.20673 | url = https://savoirs.usherbrooke.ca/bitstream/11143/15972/3/Plourde_AmJHumBiol_Vol19No4_p578-581_2007.pdf | s2cid = 20649815 | hdl = 11143/15972 | hdl-access = free }}</ref> Further, there is no evidence that humans ate fish in significant amounts earlier than tens to hundreds of thousands of years ago.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Stringer |first1=Chris|first2= Peter |last2=Andrews|title=The complete world of human evolution| year=2005 |publisher=Thames and Hudson |page=79}}</ref> Supporters argue that the avoidance of [[Taphonomy#Taphonomic biases in the fossil record|taphonomic bias]] is the problem, as most hominin fossils occur in lake-side environments, and the presence of fish remains is therefore not proof of fish consumption.<ref>{{cite book |last=Stewart |first=Kathlyn M. |title=The Case For Exploitation Of Wetlands Environments And Foods By Pre-Sapiens Hominins.|year=2010 |pages=137–171}} in {{harvnb|Cunnane|Stewart|2010}}</ref> They also claim that the archaeological record of human fishing and coastal settlement is fundamentally deficient due to [[postglacial]] [[Past sea level|sea level rise]].<ref>{{cite book | vauthors = Erlandson JM |title=Food for Thought: the Role of Coastlines and Aquatic Resources in Human Evolution}} in {{harvnb|Cunnane|Stewart|2010|pp=125–136}}</ref>

In their 1989 book ''The Driving Force: Food, Evolution and The Future'', Michael Crawford and David Marsh claimed that [[omega-3 fatty acid]]s were vital for the development of the brain:{{sfn|Crawford|Marsh|1989|p=162}}
{{blockquote|text=A branch of the line of primitive ancestral apes was forced by competition to leave the trees and feed on the seashore. Searching for oysters, mussels, crabs, crayfish and so on they would have spent much of their time in the water and an upright position would have come naturally.}} Crawford and Marsh opined that the brain size in aquatic mammals is similar to humans, and that other primates and carnivores lost relative brain capacity.{{sfn|Crawford|Marsh|1989|p=159}} Cunnane, Stewart, Crawford, and colleagues published works arguing a correlation between aquatic diet and human brain evolution in their "shore-based diet scenario",{{sfn|Cunnane|Stewart|2010}}<ref>{{cite journal|editor-last1=Stewart|editor-first1=K|editor-last2=Cunnane|editor-first2=S|editor-last3=Tattersall|editor-first3=I|year=2014|title=Special Issue: The Role of Freshwater and Marine Resources in the Evolution of the Human Diet, Brain and Behavior|journal=[[Journal of Human Evolution]]|volume=77|pages=1–216}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Survival of the fattest: the key to human brain evolution| vauthors = Cunnane SC |publisher=World Scientific|year=2005}}</ref> acknowledging the Hardy/Morgan's thesis as a foundation work of their model.{{sfn|Cunnane|Stewart|2010|pages=xiii–xvii}} As evidence, they describe health problems in landlocked communities, such as [[cretinism]] in the Alps and [[goitre]] in parts of Africa due to salt-derived [[iodine deficiency]],{{sfn|Broadhurst|Wang|Crawford|Cunnane|2002|pp=659-660}}<ref>{{cite book | vauthors = Venturi S, Bégin ME|year=2010|title=Thyroid Hormone, Iodine and Human Brain Development|page=112}} in {{harvnb|Cunnane|Stewart|2010|pp=105–124}}</ref> and state that inland habitats cannot naturally meet human iodide requirements.{{sfn|Cunnane|Stewart|2010|p=47}}

Biologists Caroline Pond and Dick Colby were highly critical, saying that the work provided "no significant new information that would be of interest to biologists" and that its style was "speculative, theoretical and in many places so imprecise as to be misleading."<ref name="pond">{{cite journal|date=27 January 1990|title=''The Driving Force: Food, Evolution and The Future'' by Michael Crawford and David Marsh|url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg12517014-300-the-fats-of-evolution-review-of-the-driving-force-evolution-and-the-future-by-michael-crawford-and-david-marsh/|journal=New Scientist|type=Book review|vauthors=Pond C, Colby D}}</ref> British palaeontologist [[Henry Gee]], who remarked on how a seafood diet can aid in the development of the human brain, nevertheless criticized AAH because inferring aquatic behavior from body fat and hairlessness patterns is an unjustifiable leap.<ref name="Gee 2013 115"/>