Microfossils in calculus demonstrate consumption of plants and cooked foods in Neanderthal diets (Shanidar III, Iraq; Spy I and II, Belgium)

Abstract

The nature and causes of the disappearance of Neanderthals and their apparent replacement by modern humans are subjects of considerable debate. Many researchers have proposed biologically or technologically mediated dietary differences between the two groups as one of the fundamental causes of Neanderthal disappearance. Some scenarios have focused on the apparent lack of plant foods in Neanderthal diets. Here we report direct evidence for Neanderthal consumption of a variety of plant foods, in the form of phytoliths and starch grains recovered from dental calculus of Neanderthal skeletons from Shanidar Cave, Iraq, and Spy Cave, Belgium. Some of the plants are typical of recent modern human diets, including date palms ( Phoenix spp.), legumes, and grass seeds (Triticeae), whereas others are known to be edible but are not heavily used today. Many of the grass seed starches showed damage that is a distinctive marker of cooking. Our results indicate that in both warm eastern Mediterranean and cold northwestern European climates, and across their latitudinal range, Neanderthals made use of the diverse plant foods available in their local environment and transformed them into more easily digestible foodstuffs in part through cooking them, suggesting an overall sophistication in Neanderthal dietary regimes.

Temporal variation selects for diet–microbe co-metabolic traits in the gut of Gorilla spp

“…Prevalence of these taxa in humans seems to correlate with increased intake of starchy foods (Wu et al, 2011;Schnorr et al, 2014;David et al, 2014). Thus, these results show that the gut microbiome of lowland gorillas during high fruit consumption seasons shares important traits with that of traditional human groups, and that starchy foods and dietary shifts to more digestible carbohydrate sources may have had important impacts in the evolution of modern human microbiomes (Henry et al, 2011;McGrew, 2007).…”

Plant foods and the dietary ecology of Neanderthals and early modern humans

“…The calculi from Spy have remarkable microremain preservation despite being the northernmost samples (50 28 0 21 00 N, 4 40 0 50 00 E), where hunteregatherer plant use is expected to be low (Kelly, 1995). One-third of the starches in this population were of a single type, which is from a USO of the Nympheae (waterlily) family (Henry et al, 2011, Fig. 1d, e, Fig.…”

“…The large number and diagnostic features of the Triticeae starches enabled us to identify them as deriving from Hordeum spp. (wild relatives of barley), and several showed clear evidence of cooking (Henry et al, 2011). The stone tools from both levels also preserved Triticeae starches, date palm phytoliths, and a variety of other starch types ( Fig.…”

“…They can be recovered from a variety of archaeological contexts, and have been used to explore plant use in a variety of time periods across human history (Henry and Piperno, 2008;Henry et al, 2011;Pearsall et al, 2004;Zarrillo and Kooyman, 2006;Piperno and Dillehay, 2008;Yang et al, 2009;Revedin et al, 2010;Wesolowski et al, 2010 Starch grains and phytoliths were collected from dental calculus and stone tool residues using methods slightly modified from those described previously (SOM Text; Henry and Piperno, 2008;Henry et al, 2011). Every microremain was photographed, described using the terminology of the International Code for Starch Nomenclature (ICSN, 2011), and the International Code for Phytolith Nomenclature (Madella et al, 2005), and assigned to a 'type'.…”

Neanderthal diets in central and southeastern Mediterranean Iberia

“…Studies of plant microremains preserved in soils (Henry et al, 1996(Henry et al, , 2004Albert et al, 1999Albert et al, , 2000Rosen, 2003) and dental calculus (Henry et al, 2011) from Near Eastern sites suggest that Neanderthals may have consumed a variety of plant foods such as date palms and grains. In cold northern European environments, the study of phytoliths and starch grains in dental calculus from Spy Cave (Belgium) indicated that grass seeds and underground storage organisms were part of Neanderthal diet (Henry et al, 2011).…”