科学家称：远古时代男主内女主外

　　Scientists may finally have confirmed what every woman has always suspected. Even back in prehistoric times, the female of the species was very much the boss. A study has found evidence of "alpha cavewomen" roaming the plains and calling the shots while the menfolk slobbed at home。

　　Alpha cavewoman appears to have travelled far wider than her male counterpart, the research showed. She might even have been the one who went out clubbing, so to speak – reversing the popular conception that it was the bloke who bashed the girl on the head and dragged her home by the hair。

　　But something seems to have happened to the evolution of the species after those times between 1.7million and 2.4million years ago. A couple more millennia would have to pass before female independence re-emerged with the liberation of the Swinging Sixties。

　　The findings, detailed in the journal Nature, were made by Oxford University researchers and an international team of scientists. Using lasers and advanced technology, they analyzed enamel from fossilized teeth found in cave systems in South Africa。

　　Oxford professor Julia Lee-Thorp said the difference between males and females was "completely unexpected"。

　　Her team measured the strontium isotope ratios in canine and third molar teeth in 11 Paranthropus individuals from the Swartkrans cave, as well as in teeth from eight Australopithecus africanus individuals from the nearby Sterkfontein cave. The researchers also measured the strontium in 170 plants and animals currently living near the caves to get a sense of the different strontium signatures of the region。

　　Analysis of their teeth showed whether or not individuals were local or had arrived from another area. More than half the female teeth were from outside the region, compared to about 10 percent of the male teeth, the international team of researchers found。

　　The experts concluded that most males lived and died in their birthplaces, while females were more likely to find new homes。

　　Modern humans, who are influenced by relatively recent cultural practices such as marriage and property ownership, are difficult to compare to our early ancestors, a professor added。