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Much has been said about what did humans eat before agriculture. But now there is a study what lights up
The diet of hunter-gatherers before the Neolithic transition included a strong preference for plantsaccording to a new study that challenges the idea that They ate almost only meat.
Due to the scarcity of well-preserved human remains from Paleolithic sites, there is little information about What pre-agricultural human groups ate.
But the new study challenges this notion by presenting convincing isotopic evidence of the inclination to eat plants among the hunter-gatherers of Morocco from 15 thousand years ago.
This is the first time a significant amount of plant consumption has been measured in a pre-agricultural population, shedding new light on what humans or plants ate. dietary practices of ancient human societies.
The findings have been published in Nature Ecology & Evolution.
Made by an international team of scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (Leipzig, Germany), Géoscience et Environnement Toulouse (Toulouse, France) and the Institut National des Sciences de l’Archéologie et du Patrimoine (Rabat, Morocco), the study examines the diet of individuals associated with the Iberomaurusian culture discovered in the Taforalt cave, Morocco.
Ancient diets and what humans ate
Using a comprehensive multiisotopic approach, including zinc and strontium isotope analysis in tooth enamel, carbon, nitrogen and sulfur analysis in collagen, as well as amino acid analysis From human and faunal remains, researchers uncovered surprising insights into ancient dietary practices.
The main conclusions of the study clearly show that the diet of these hunter-gatherers included a significant proportion of plants belonging to Mediterranean species, predating the arrival of agriculture in the region by several millennia.
Archaeobotanical remains found at the site, such as acorns, pine nuts, and wild legumes, further support this idea.
Foods in pre-agricultural children’s diets
Additionally, the study suggests that plant foods were also introduced into infant diets and may have served as weaning products for this human population.
This finding has significant implications as it suggests the potential for earlier weaning practices in pre-agricultural communities compared to norms previously thought for hunter-gatherer societies.
This challenges the prevailing notion of a diet based largely on animal protein among pre-agricultural human groups and raises questions about the lack of agricultural development in North Africa in the early Holocene.
Human subsistence and evolution
Zineb Moubtahij, first author of the study, explains in a statement: “Our findings not only provide information on the dietary practices of pre-agricultural human groups, but also highlight the complexity of human subsistence strategies in different regions. Understanding these patterns is crucial to unraveling the broader story of human evolution.”
Additionally, this study is the first to use zinc isotopes preserved in enamel to determine the diet of ancient African populations.
North Africa is a key region for the study of human evolution and modern human dispersal.
Evolution and ancient dietary practices
Having a tool that allows us to further explore human diet over time in this region will provide valuable information about human dietary patterns and the adaptability in different environments.
In the future, the research team hopes to explore additional Paleolithic sites in North Africa and use innovative techniques to gain a deeper understanding of what ancient humans ate and its implications for human evolution.