DoomsdaysCW<p>The real <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Paleo" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Paleo</span></a> diet: New <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/archaeological" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>archaeological</span></a> evidence changes what we thought about how ancient humans prepared food</p><p>by Ceren Kabukcu, The Conversation, November 26, 2022 </p><p>"We found carbonised food fragments in Franchthi Cave (Aegean, Greece) dating to about 13,000-11,500 years ago. At Franchthi Cave we found one fragment from a finely-ground food which might be <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/bread" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>bread</span></a>, batter or a type of <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/porridge" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>porridge</span></a> in addition to <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/pulse" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>pulse</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/seed" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>seed</span></a>-rich, coarse-ground foods.</p><p>"In Shanidar Cave (Zagros, Iraqi Kurdistan), associated with early modern humans around 40,000 years ago and Neanderthals around 70,000 years ago, we also found ancient food fragments. This included wild <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/mustard" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>mustard</span></a> and terebinth (wild <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/pistachio" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>pistachio</span></a>) mixed into foods. We discovered wild <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/grass" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>grass</span></a> seeds mixed with pulses in the charred remains from the Neanderthal layers. Previous studies at Shanidar found traces of grass seeds in the tartar on Neanderthal teeth.</p><p>"At both sites, we often found ground or pounded pulse seeds such as bitter <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/vetch" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>vetch</span></a> (Vicia ervilia), grass <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/pea" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>pea</span></a> (Lathyrus spp) and wild pea (Pisum spp). The people who lived in these caves added the seeds to a mixture that was heated up with water during grinding, pounding or mashing of soaked seeds.</p><p>"The majority of wild pulse mixes were characterised by bitter tasting mixtures. In modern cooking, these pulses are often soaked, heated and de-hulled (removal of the seed coat) to reduce their bitterness and toxins. The ancient remains we found suggest humans have been doing this for tens of thousands of years. But the fact seed coats weren't completely removed hints that these people wanted to retain a little of the bitter flavour. </p><p>"The presence of wild mustard, with its distinctive sharp taste, is a seasoning well documented in the Aceramic period (the beginning of village life in the south-west Asia, 8500BC) and later Neolithic sites in the region. Plants such as wild almonds (bitter), terebinth (tannin-rich and oily) and wild <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/fruits" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>fruits</span></a> (sharp, sometimes sour, sometimes tannin-rich) are pervasive in plant remains from south-west Asia and Europe during the later Paleolithic period (40,000-10,000 years ago). Their inclusion in dishes based on grasses, <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/tubers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>tubers</span></a>, meat, fish, would have lent a special flavour to the finished meal. So these plants were eaten for tens of thousands of years across areas thousands of miles apart. These dishes may be the origins of human culinary practices.</p><p>"Based on the evidence from plants found during this time span, there is no doubt both <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Neanderthals" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Neanderthals</span></a> and early modern humans diets included a variety of plants. Previous studies found food residues trapped in tartar on the teeth of Neanderthals from Europe and south-west Asia which show they cooked and ate grasses and tubers such as wild <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/barley" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>barley</span></a>, and medicinal plants. The remains of carbonised plants remains show they gathered pulses and pine nuts."</p><p><a href="https://phys.org/news/2022-11-real-paleo-diet-archaeological-evidence.html" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">phys.org/news/2022-11-real-pal</span><span class="invisible">eo-diet-archaeological-evidence.html</span></a></p><p><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Paleolithic" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Paleolithic</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Archaeobotany" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Archaeobotany</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/FoodArchaeology" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>FoodArchaeology</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/FoodHistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>FoodHistory</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/History" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>History</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Histodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Histodon</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/CulinaryArchaeology" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>CulinaryArchaeology</span></a></p>