Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com – A current archaeological examine performed alongside the Jordan River banks, south of northern Israel’s Hula Valley, offers new insights into the dietary habits of early people, difficult conventional views on prehistoric diets.
The analysis signifies that historic hunter-gatherers closely relied on plant meals, notably starchy crops, as a main power supply. Opposite to well-liked perception that early hominid diets targeted primarily on animal protein, this examine reveals a various vary of plant-based meals of their weight-reduction plan, together with acorns, cereals, legumes, and aquatic crops.
A stone anvil (left) and hammerstone (proper) used for processing crops. Credit score: Gesher Benot Ya’akov group
The multidisciplinary analysis facilities across the discovery of starch grains roughly 780,000 years previous from basalt instruments at an historic settlement web site close to Gesher Benot Ya’akov. This web site has yielded in depth proof, together with over 20 settlement layers and fossilized stays. The findings problem the prevailing notion that historic human diets have been primarily animal-based—a view typically supported by interpretations from animal bones discovered at archaeological websites the place plant stays are not often preserved.
Excavations at Gesher Benot Ya’akov. Credit score: Gesher Benot Ya’akov group
The examine was performed as a part of Dr. Hadar Ahituv’s doctoral thesis at Bar-Ilan College’s Martin (Szusz) Division of Land of Israel Research and Archaeology. He’s now on the Laboratory for Historic Meals Processing Applied sciences (LAFPT), at Haifa College’s Zinman Institute of Archaeology. This collaborative analysis effort additionally concerned students from a number of establishments, together with Prof. Nira Alperson-Afil and Dr. Yoel Melamed from Bar-Ilan College, Prof. Naama Goren-Inbar from the Hebrew College, and Prof. Amanda Henry from Leiden College, Netherlands.
The presence of starch grains on historic instruments highlights the numerous position crops performed in early human diets. These grains recommend that starchy tubers and nuts wealthy in carbohydrates have been essential for assembly the power calls for required by the human mind. The examine additionally underscores subtle strategies utilized by early people to course of plant supplies; starch grains have been found on basalt maces and anvils used for cracking and crushing varied crops.
Examples of a number of the crops recovered from Gesher Benot Ya’akov percussive instruments, together with each the entire plant, the edible half, and the attribute starch grains. From left to proper: oak, yellow water lily, and customary oat (scale is 20 µm). Credit score: Dr. Hadar Ahituv and Dr. Yoel Melamed
Moreover, microscopic stays corresponding to pollen grains assist these findings’ credibility. This analysis provides insights into social behaviors amongst early people; device use for processing crops implies cooperation inside bigger social teams and a deep understanding of their surroundings just like trendy people at the moment.
This discovery marks an necessary milestone in prehistoric research by offering helpful proof about our ancestors’ dietary habits whereas providing contemporary views on human evolution and societal improvement.
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“This discovery underscores the significance of plant meals within the evolution of our ancestors,” mentioned Dr. Ahituv. “We now perceive that early hominids gathered all kinds of crops year-round, which they processed utilizing instruments made out of basalt. This discovery opens a brand new chapter within the examine of early human diets and their profound connection to plant-based meals.”
The examine was printed within the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Written by Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com Employees Author
