<![CDATA[The earliest known evidence of prehistoric humans processing plants through cooking has been uncovered by an international team of researchers spearheaded by the University of Bristol in the UK. Evidence of cooking, long thought to be one of the most important steps in human development, has been sadly lacking in prehistoric cooking vessels found by archaeologists in the past. However, scientists from Bristol University’s Organic Geochemistry Unit in the School of Chemistry, together with researchers from Sapienza, University of Rome and the Universities of Modena and Milan, have released a research study detailing the results of their analysis of unglazed ceramics more than 10,000 years old and found in the Libyan Sahara. Ancient cooking was important, as it made it possible to consume food that would have been otherwise unpalatable or even dangerous. It broadened the energy sources available to prehistoric humans as well, making survival easier by a considerable margin. Ancient cooking methods likely used fires or fire pits, necessitating the development of ceramics first. This would, in turn, have enabled several different techniques in food preparation. According to a press release from the University of Bristol, the scientists found traces of lipid residues, left behind from cooked food, preserved within the fabric of unglazed pots used for cooking. Over half the ceramic vessels analyzed in the study were found to have been used for cooking plants, based on the analysis of plant oil and wax compounds left behind in the ceramics. In-depth analysis of the compositions of the residue on the molecular and stable isotope level revealed a wide range of plants had been processed in these ancient pots. Most interestingly, traces of aquatic plants were found alongside more expected substances such as leafy terrestrial plants and grains. The success of the analysis is due in no small part to the environment in which the vessels were found. The arid desert climate preserved the plant remains remarkably well, making it easier to determine that the processing of plants had been practiced for over 4,000 years – clearly indicating how important these plants were to the ancient humans in the region. The paper’s lead author: the University of Bristol’s Dr. Julie Dunne, remarked that the importance of plants in the diet of ancient humans had gone under-recognized until now. The new findings, she added, not only demonstrate how important plants are as a reliable dietary resource but also how sophisticated these ancient humans were in utilizing such a broad array of different plant types and preparation methods, through the use of what would have been at the time the very new technology of ceramic vessels. Professor Richard Evershed, study co-author and Dunne's University of Bristol colleague, also commented on the new research study’s success, stating that the discovery of such extensive plant residues on the ancient pottery samples has provided “an entirely different picture” regarding how prehistoric humans in the Saraha used pottery in comparison to other places around the world at that time. The new research study, published in the journal Nature Plants, can be found here]]>
Earliest Prehistoric Evidence of Cooked Plants Uncovered
