Plant processing strategies and their affect upon starch grain survival when rendering Peltandra virginica (L.) Kunth, Araceae edible

Messner, Timothy C.; Schindler, Bill

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2009.09.044

Cited by 30 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…Specifically, closed hila and an absence of fissures predominate in fresh tubers (wild and domesticated), whereas open hila and fissures predominate in freeze-dried tubers (Table S6). Various experimental studies have found a positive correlation between processing and the increased incidence of wear or damage to starches, including cracking and gelatinization (43)(44)(45); the modern Solanum data are consistent with such findings.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 71%

Late Archaic–Early Formative period microbotanical evidence for potato at Jiskairumoko in the Titicaca Basin of southern Peru

Rumold

Aldenderfer

2016

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

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The data presented in this paper provide direct microbotanical evidence concerning the early use of potato (Solanum tuberosum) within its botanical locus of origin in the high south-central Andes. The data derive from Jiskairumoko, an early village site in the western Titicaca Basin dating to the Late Archaic to Early Formative periods (∼3,400 cal y BC to 1,600 cal y BC). Because the site reflects the transition to sedentism and food production, these data may relate to potato domestication and early cultivation. Of 141 starch microremains recovered from 14 groundstone tools from Jiskairumoko, 50 are identified as consistent with cultivated or domesticated potato, based on reference to published materials and a study of wild and cultivated potato starch morphology. Along with macro- and microbotanical evidence for chenopod consumption and grinding tool data reflecting intensive use of this technology throughout site occupation, the microbotanical data reported here suggest the intensive exploitation, if not cultivation, of plant resources at Jiskairumoko. Elucidating the details of the trajectory of potato domestication is necessary for an overall understanding of the development of highland Andean agriculture, as this crop is central to the autochthonous agricultural suite. A paucity of direct botanical evidence, however, has hindered research efforts. The results of the modern and archaeological starch analyses presented here underscore the utility of this method in addressing questions related to the timing, mode, and context of potato origins.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 71%

Late Archaic–Early Formative period microbotanical evidence for potato at Jiskairumoko in the Titicaca Basin of southern Peru

Rumold

Aldenderfer

2016

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

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“…Since gelatinized starch has exposed amylose, this makes it much more susceptible to digestion by amylase enzymes from human saliva or pancreatic fluid (Butterworth, Warren, & Ellis, ). Due to the importance of food processing to human metabolism and health, many investigators have advocated for more research on contextually informed models of processing technologies, particularly cooking, to empirically evaluate their benefit to human consumers (Messner & Schindler, ; Schnorr et al, ; Schnorr, Crittenden, & Henry, ; Wollstonecroft, Ellis, Hillman, & Fuller, ; Zink et al, ).…”

Section: Bioavailability and Human Digestive Physiologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Current views on hunter‐gatherer nutrition and the evolution of the human diet

Crittenden

Schnorr

2017

American J Phys Anthropol

133

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Diet composition and food choice are not only central to the daily lives of all living people, but are consistently linked with turning points in human evolutionary history. As such, scholars from a wide range of fields have taken great interest in the role that subsistence has played in both human cultural and biological evolution. Central to this discussion is the diet composition and nutrition of contemporary hunters and gatherers, who are frequently conscripted as model populations for ancestral human nutrition. Research among the world's few remaining foraging populations is experiencing a resurgence, as they are making the final transition away from diets composed of wild foods, to those dominated by domesticated cultigens and/or processed foods.In an effort to glean as much information as possible, before such populations are no longer hunting and gathering, researchers interested in the evolution of human nutrition are rapidly collecting and accessing new and more data. Methods of scientific inquiry are in the midst of rapid change and scholars are able to revisit long-standing questions using state of the art analyses. Here, using the most relevant findings from studies in ethnography, nutrition, human physiology, and microbiomes, we provide a brief summary of the study of the evolution of human nutrition as it has specifically pertained to data coming from living hunter-gatherers. In doing so, we hope to bridge the disciplines that are currently invested in research on nutrition and health among foraging populations. K E Y W O R D Sdiet composition, forager, gut microbiome, human evolution, nutrition | I N T R O D U C T I O NDiet composition and food choice are indisputably a core facet in all human societies. Changes in diet are routinely associated with watershed moments in human evolution-such as tool making, brain expansion, family formation, cooperation, and even increased longevity (Aiello & Wheeler, 1995; Lee & DeVore, 1968;Wrangham, 2009). In the not-too-distant past, before industrialization, the rise of the middle class, and the development of market economies, procuring and preparing enough food to feed one's self and one's family occupied a significant portion of daily labor. In contemporary unindustrialized small-scale societies, this is still largely the case (Hawkes et al., 1997;Marlowe, 2010;Wood & Marlowe, 2013). Appropriately, anthropologists take great interest in the role that food and diet have had in human biological and cultural evolution (Messer, 1984). The old proverbs, "you are what you eat" and "tell me what you eat and I'll tell you what you are" (Brillat-Savarin, 1862) speak about food not only as a physical embodiment of the environment, but also as a means of social identity and symbolic construction of culture. Naturally, these are anthropological dialogues, but at their core, they speak the language of many fields of biology. In order for scholars interested in the evolution of the human diet to integrate work from various disciplines, a collective conversation ...

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“…A challenging result in studying the Paglicci grinding tool was the record of swollen or partially swollen, gelatinized grains: i.e., grains featuring the physicochemical changes that normally occur after thermal treatments (23)(24)(25). This evidence suggests that a thermal treatment was performed on the plant material before grinding.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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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Plant processing strategies and their affect upon starch grain survival when rendering Peltandra virginica (L.) Kunth, Araceae edible

Cited by 30 publications

References 22 publications

Late Archaic–Early Formative period microbotanical evidence for potato at Jiskairumoko in the Titicaca Basin of southern Peru

Late Archaic–Early Formative period microbotanical evidence for potato at Jiskairumoko in the Titicaca Basin of southern Peru

Current views on hunter‐gatherer nutrition and the evolution of the human diet

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

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