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Neanderthals were able to cook food
According to anthropologist John Speth, Neanderthals could boil water in containers of leather or birch bark.
Neanderthals probably knew how to cook food, says anthropologist John Speth of the University of Michigan. According to National Geographic, the researcher expressed his ideas on this matter at a meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.
Fire was known to the ancestors of modern humans and their relatives for a long time. For example, recently in Israel was discovered a hearth about 300 thousand years old. However, ceramics, which would allow you to cook food as we do today, appeared much later – in the transition from the Mesolithic to the Neolithic (about 10-7 thousand BC, depending on the region).
Previously, it was thought that modern humans could cook food by heating stones in a fire and placing them in a water vessel made of organic material. The earliest stones that could be used in this capacity date back 26 millennia ago. Meanwhile, Neanderthals became extinct about 28 thousand years ago - before the appearance of such stones and before the invention of ceramics.
According to John Speth, Neanderthals could cook food in leather bags or birch bark containers. He notes that the boiling point of water is below the ignition point of almost any container, including fuels such as birch bark and leather.
The fact that Neanderthals were familiar with boiled food is indicated, in particular, by the remains of boiled grains found on the teeth of Neanderthals in the Shanidar cave (Iraq). In addition, according to the anthropologist, 98% of animal bones found in Neanderthal sites, there are no traces of gnawing. This, according to John Speth, suggests that the fat from these bones dissolved in the cooking process.
The anthropologist also notes that Neanderthals used birch tar to attach an arrowhead to a shaft. According to the scientist, such tar could be obtained only in an anaerobic environment, the easiest way to prepare it is boiling.
Andrew White of the University of Michigan, in a separate report at the same meeting, noted that Neanderthal mothers weaned their babies earlier than modern humans did. The early transition from breast milk to adult food required, in his opinion, special processing of foods. Andrew White believes that such processing could be cooking.
Dr. Mary C. Stiner, of the University of Arizona in Tucson, said that although Neanderthals knew fire and knew how to work with wood, it is difficult to prove that they could cook food in leather bags or birch bark vessels.
Source: nkj.ru
Neanderthals probably knew how to cook food, says anthropologist John Speth of the University of Michigan. According to National Geographic, the researcher expressed his ideas on this matter at a meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.
Fire was known to the ancestors of modern humans and their relatives for a long time. For example, recently in Israel was discovered a hearth about 300 thousand years old. However, ceramics, which would allow you to cook food as we do today, appeared much later – in the transition from the Mesolithic to the Neolithic (about 10-7 thousand BC, depending on the region).
Previously, it was thought that modern humans could cook food by heating stones in a fire and placing them in a water vessel made of organic material. The earliest stones that could be used in this capacity date back 26 millennia ago. Meanwhile, Neanderthals became extinct about 28 thousand years ago - before the appearance of such stones and before the invention of ceramics.
According to John Speth, Neanderthals could cook food in leather bags or birch bark containers. He notes that the boiling point of water is below the ignition point of almost any container, including fuels such as birch bark and leather.
The fact that Neanderthals were familiar with boiled food is indicated, in particular, by the remains of boiled grains found on the teeth of Neanderthals in the Shanidar cave (Iraq). In addition, according to the anthropologist, 98% of animal bones found in Neanderthal sites, there are no traces of gnawing. This, according to John Speth, suggests that the fat from these bones dissolved in the cooking process.
The anthropologist also notes that Neanderthals used birch tar to attach an arrowhead to a shaft. According to the scientist, such tar could be obtained only in an anaerobic environment, the easiest way to prepare it is boiling.
Andrew White of the University of Michigan, in a separate report at the same meeting, noted that Neanderthal mothers weaned their babies earlier than modern humans did. The early transition from breast milk to adult food required, in his opinion, special processing of foods. Andrew White believes that such processing could be cooking.
Dr. Mary C. Stiner, of the University of Arizona in Tucson, said that although Neanderthals knew fire and knew how to work with wood, it is difficult to prove that they could cook food in leather bags or birch bark vessels.
Source: nkj.ru
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