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

Henry, Amanda G.; Brooks, Alison S.; Piperno, Dolores R.

doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2013.12.014

Cited by 196 publications

(144 citation statements)

References 63 publications

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“…Analysis of dental calculus is an emerging archaeobotanical method that can provide evidence on specific plant taxa and organs consumed during life (e.g. Armitage, 1975;Boyadjian et al, 2007;Henry et al, 2014;Horrocks et al, 2014;Salazar-García et al, 2013;Mickleburgh and Pagan-Jimenez, 2012), as well as information on other foods that produce morphologically distinct microremains, such as fungal spores and diatoms. Dental calculus forms due to precipitation of salivary calcium phosphate on the bacterial biofilm that covers the teeth, and therefore acts as a mineralised reservoir of the oral environment, including food fragments (Warinner et al, 2014: Power et al, 2014Kucera et al, 2011;Boyadjian et al, 2007;Dobney and Brothwell, 1986).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microremains from El Mirón Cave human dental calculus suggest a mixed plant–animal subsistence economy during the Magdalenian in Northern Iberia

Power

Salazar‐García

Straus

et al. 2015

Journal of Archaeological Science

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a b s t r a c tDespite more than a century of detailed investigation of the Magdalenian period in Northern Iberia, our understanding of the diets during this period is limited. Methodologies for the reconstruction of Late Glacial subsistence strategies have overwhelmingly targeted animal exploitation, thus revealing only a portion of the dietary spectrum. Retrieving food debris from calculus offers a means to provide missing information on other components of diet. We undertook analysis of human dental calculus samples from Magdalenian individuals (including the "Red Lady") at El Mir on Cave (Cantabria, Spain), as well as several control samples, to better understand the less visible dietary components. Dental calculus yielded a diverse assemblage of microremains from plant, fungal, animal and mineral sources that may provide data on diet and environment. The types of microremains show that the individuals at El Mir on consumed a variety of plants, including seeds and underground storage organs, as well as other foods, including possibly bolete mushrooms. These findings suggest that plant and plant-like foods were parts of her diet, supplementing staples derived from animal foods. As faunal evidence suggests that the Magdalenian Cantabrian diet included a large proportion of animal foods, we argue here for a mixed subsistence pattern.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microremains from El Mirón Cave human dental calculus suggest a mixed plant–animal subsistence economy during the Magdalenian in Northern Iberia

Power

Salazar‐García

Straus

et al. 2015

Journal of Archaeological Science

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“…O ver the last few decades, a renewed interest in ancient diets has led to particular attention being paid to the plant residues recovered from tool surfaces and dental calculus in Paleolithic sites (e.g., refs. [1][2][3][4][5][6]. The data that we have collected have expanded our knowledge of the lifestyle of ancestral humans, indicating their familiarity with a wide variety of edible plants and their capacity for complex, multistep food processing.…”

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confidence: 80%

Multistep food plant processing at Grotta Paglicci (Southern Italy) around 32,600 cal B.P.

Lippi

Foggi

Aranguren³

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Residue analyses on a grinding tool recovered at Grotta Paglicci sublayer 23A [32,614 ± 429 calibrated (cal) B.P.], Southern Italy, have demonstrated that early modern humans collected and processed various plants. The recording of starch grains attributable to Avena (oat) caryopses expands our information about the food plants used for producing flour in Europe during the Paleolithic and about the origins of a food tradition persisting up to the present in the Mediterranean basin. The quantitative distribution of the starch grains on the surface of the grinding stone furnished information about the tool handling, confirming its use as a pestlegrinder, as suggested by the wear-trace analysis. The particular state of preservation of the starch grains suggests the use of a thermal treatment before grinding, possibly to accelerate drying of the plants, making the following process easier and faster. The study clearly indicates that the exploitation of plant resources was very important for hunter-gatherer populations, to the point that the Early Gravettian inhabitants of Paglicci were able to process food plants and already possessed a wealth of knowledge that was to become widespread after the dawn of agriculture.starch grains | Avena | pestle-grinder | flour | Early Gravettian

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“…A high-protein, meat-based diet would have severe effects on pregnant Neanderthal females and thus be unfavorable to the population's reproductive success (Hockett 2012), which is inconsistent with Neanderthal prolonged survival in Europe. Furthermore, current evidence from a number of case studies suggests that Neanderthals enjoyed a relatively variable diet, incorporating plant and possibly aquatic resources (e.g., El Zaatari et al 2011;Henry et al 2014;Krueger et al 2017;Lev et al 2005;Madella et al 2002;Naito et al 2016;Weyrich et al 2017).…”

Section: Ecological and Organizational Perspectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are Lithics and Fauna a Match Made in (Prehistoric) Heaven?

Hovers

Belfer‐Cohen

2018

J Paleo Arch

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Lithic artifacts and animal bones form the bulk of the material remains of the Paleolithic. This has led archeologists to interpret these two types of finds as tethered components of subsistence systems. Differences observed through time and space in the lithic repertoire were considered as functional adjustments, designed to maximize gains from a diverse faunal resource base. While we do not challenge the general notion that lithic artifacts were used (also) for exploiting faunal (and other) resources, we note that significant lithic technological breakthroughs, clearly directed towards higher efficiency of procurement of faunal resources (e.g., hafting, projectile weapons), are few and far-apart in the evolution of material culture. Based on case studies from the Levantine Middle Paleolithic (MP), we question the degree to which fauna-based subsistence determined lithic variability. Current research focus on functional relationship between lithics and fauna may preclude consideration of other causes for lithic typo-technological diversity. These may include technological traditions, differences in cultural transmission processes, or the level of within-and between-group connectivity, various combinations of which may have operated in the MP.

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

Cited by 196 publications

References 63 publications

Microremains from El Mirón Cave human dental calculus suggest a mixed plant–animal subsistence economy during the Magdalenian in Northern Iberia

Microremains from El Mirón Cave human dental calculus suggest a mixed plant–animal subsistence economy during the Magdalenian in Northern Iberia

Multistep food plant processing at Grotta Paglicci (Southern Italy) around 32,600 cal B.P.

Are Lithics and Fauna a Match Made in (Prehistoric) Heaven?

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