The remains of a huge carp fish mark the earliest signs of cooking by prehistoric human to 780,000 years ago, predating the available data by some 600,000 years, according to researchers.
From: Tel-Aviv University
November 15, 2022 -- A
remarkable scientific discovery has been made by researchers from the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem (HU), Tel Aviv University (TAU), and Bar-Ilan
University (BIU), in collaboration with the Steinhardt Museum of Natural
History, Oranim Academic College, the Israel Oceanographic and Limnological
Research (IOLR) institution, the Natural History Museum in London, and the
Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz. A close analysis of the remains of a
carp-like fish found at the Gesher Benot Ya'aqov (GBY) archaeological site in
Israel shows that the fish were cooked roughly 780,000 years ago. Cooking is
defined as the ability to process food by controlling the temperature at which
it is heated and includes a wide range of methods. Until now, the earliest evidence
of cooking dates to approximately 170,000 years ago. The question of when early
man began using fire to cook food has been the subject of much scientific
discussion for over a century. These findings shed new light on the matter and
was published in Nature Ecology and Evolution.
The study was led by a
team of researchers: Dr. Irit Zohar, a researcher at TAU's Steinhardt Museum of
Natural History and curator of the Beit Margolin Biological Collections at
Oranim Academic College, and HU Professor Naama Goren-Inbar, director of the
excavation site. The research team also included Dr. Marion Prevost at HU's
Institute of Archaeology; Prof. Nira Alperson-Afil at BIU's Department for
Israel Studies and Archaeology; Dr. Jens Najorka of the Natural History Museum
in London; Dr. Guy Sisma-Ventura of the Israel Oceanographic and Limnological
Research Institute; Prof. Thomas Tütken of the Johannes Gutenberg University in
Mainz and Prof. Israel Hershkovitz at TAU's Faculty of Medicine.
Dr. Zohar and Dr.
Prevost: "This study demonstrates the huge importance of fish in the life
of prehistoric humans, for their diet and economic stability. Further, by
studying the fish remains found at Gesher Benot Ya'aqob we were able to
reconstruct, for the first time, the fish population of the ancient Hula Lake
and to show that the lake held fish species that became extinct over time.
These species included giant barbs (carp like fish) that reached up to 2 meters
in length. The large quantity of fish remains found at the site proves their
frequent consumption by early humans, who developed special cooking techniques.
These new findings demonstrate not only the importance of freshwater habitats
and the fish they contained for the sustenance of prehistoric man, but also
illustrate prehistoric humans' ability to control fire in order to cook food,
and their understanding the benefits of cooking fish before eating it."
In the study, the
researchers focused on pharyngeal teeth (used to grind up hard food such as
shells) belonging to fish from the carp family. These teeth were found in large
quantities at different archaeological strata at the site. By studying the
structure of the crystals that form the teeth enamel (whose size increases
through exposure to heat), the researchers were able to prove that the fish
caught at the ancient Hula Lake, adjacent to the site, were exposed to
temperatures suitable for cooking, and were not simply burned by a spontaneous
fire.
Until now, evidence of
the use of fire for cooking had been limited to sites that came into use much
later than the GBY site -- by some 600,000 years, and ones most are associated
with the emergence of our own species, homo sapiens.
Prof. Goren-Inbar
added: "The fact that the cooking of fish is evident over such a long and
unbroken period of settlement at the site indicates a continuous tradition of
cooking food. This is another in a series of discoveries relating to the high
cognitive capabilities of the Acheulian hunter-gatherers who were active in the
ancient Hula Valley region. These groups were deeply familiar with their
environment and the various resources it offered them. Further, it shows they
had extensive knowledge of the life cycles of different plant and animal
species. Gaining the skill required to cook food marks a significant
evolutionary advance, as it provided an additional means for making optimal use
of available food resources. It is even possible that cooking was not limited
to fish, but also included various types of animals and plants."
Prof. Hershkovitz and
Dr. Zohar note that the transition from eating raw food to eating cooked food
had dramatic implications for human development and behavior. Eating cooked
food reduces the bodily energy required to break down and digest food, allowing
other physical systems to develop. It also leads to changes in the structure of
the human jaw and skull. This change freed humans from the daily, intensive
work of searching for and digesting raw food, providing them free time in which
to develop new social and behavioral systems. Some scientists view eating fish
as a milestone in the quantum leap in human cognitive evolution, providing a
central catalyst for the development of the human brain. They claim that eating
fish is what made us human. Even today, it is widely known that the contents of
fish flesh, such as omega-3 fatty acids, zinc, iodine and more, contribute
greatly to brain development.
The research team
believe that the location of freshwater areas, some of them in areas that have
long since dried up and become arid deserts, determined the route of the
migration of early man from Africa to the Levant and beyond. Not only did these
habitats provide drinking water and attracted animals to the area but catching
fish in shallow water is a relatively simple and safe task with a very high
nutritional reward.
The team posits that
exploiting fish in freshwater habitats was the first step on prehistoric
humans' route out of Africa. Early man began to eat fish around 2 million years
ago but cooking fish -- as found in this study -- represented a real revolution
in the Acheulian diet and is an important foundation for understanding the
relationship between man, the environment, climate, and migration when
attempting to reconstruct the history of early humans.
It should be noted that
evidence of the use of fire at the site -- the oldest such evidence in Eurasia
-- was identified first by BIU's Prof. Nira Alperson-Afil. "The use of
fire is a behavior that characterizes the entire continuum of settlement at the
site," she explained. "This affected the spatial organization of the
site and the activity conducted there, which revolved around fireplaces."
Alperson-Afil's research of fire at the site was revolutionary for its time and
showed that the use of fire began hundreds of thousands of years before
previously thought.
HU's Goren-Inbar added
that the archaeological site of GBY documents a continuum of repeated
settlement by groups of hunter-gatherers on the shores of the ancient Hula Lake
which lasting tens of thousands of years. "These groups made use of the
rich array of resources provided by the ancient Hula Valley and left behind a
long settlement continuum with over 20 settlement strata," Goren-Inbar
explained. The excavations at the site have uncovered the material culture of
these ancient hominins, including flint, basalt, and limestone tools, as well
as their food sources, which were characterized by a rich diversity of plant
species from the lake and its shores (including fruit, nuts, and seeds) and by
many species of land mammals, both medium-sized and large.
Dr. Jens Najorka of the
Natural History Museum in London explained: "In this study, we used
geochemical methods to identify changes in the size of the tooth enamel
crystals, as a result of exposure to different cooking temperatures. When they
are burnt by fire, it is easy to identify the dramatic change in the size of
the enamel crystals, but it is more difficult to identify the changes caused by
cooking at temperatures between 200 and 500 degrees Celsius. The experiments I
conducted with Dr. Zohar allowed us to identify the changes caused by cooking
at low temperatures. We do not know exactly how the fish were cooked but given
the lack of evidence of exposure to high temperatures, it is clear that they
were not cooked directly in fire, and were not thrown into a fire as waste or
as material for burning."
Dr. Guy Sisma-Ventura
of the Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research Institute and Prof.
Thomas Tütken of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz were also part of the
research group, providing analysis of the isotope composition of oxygen and
carbon in the enamel of the fishes' teeth. "This study of isotopes is a
real breakthrough, as it allowed us to reconstruct the hydrological conditions
in this ancient lake throughout the seasons, and thus to determine that the
fish were not a seasonal economic resource but were caught and eaten all year
round. Thus, fish provided a constant source of nutrition that reduced the need
for seasonal migration."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/11/221114111017.htm
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