The kitchen is much older than they thought!

What if our attraction to cooking and good food went back to prehistoric times? far from the image of a man NeanderthalsNeanderthals Devouring a piece of undercooked meat at the bottom of a cave, our ancestors seem to have been accustomed from a very early age to seasoning dishes and mixing ingredients. This is what a new study published in the journal antique🇧🇷

It has been like this for at least 70,000 yearsNeanderthals and the Homo sapiens Thus, they prepared real meals shared in the group. Meals that require several stages of preparation and include many ingredients, some of which are intended only to enhance the taste of the dish.

A complex culinary practice dating back 70,000 years

These results were obtained thanks to the analysis of fossilized flour remains found at two Paleolithic sites. One of them is located in Greece, in the Francti Cave. Sedimentary deposits make it possible to date back to the period from 13,000 to 11,500 years ago. The other cave, Schneider’s, is located in Zagros, Iraqi Kurdistan. This shelter received the first modern humans, 40,000 years ago, but also Neanderthals, 70,000 years ago. Previously, the oldest surviving meal was only 14,400 years old. Thus, these new fossil discoveries represent a small revolution and have made it possible to study diet in particular. The first huntersbut also the way they prepare their meals.

The two rock shelters revealed the remains of complex botanical preparations. At the Franchthi site, the remains look like burnt bread crumbs, flatbread, or the remains of soft porridge garnished with seeds. legumeslegumes coarsely ground. At the site of Shanidar, the most ancient mustard seeds are found pistachiopistachio The brutality that seems to have accompanied the culinary preparations. Even remains associated with Neanderthals show that these HominidsHominids Mix the ground grass seeds with the ground legumes to make a hot, watery lotion. An earlier study also found traces of grass seeds in the tartar covering the teeth. fossilsfossils Neanderthals.

Spice dishes, an older gesture than we thought

Thanks for the analysis Scanning electron microscopeScanning electron microscope, the researchers were able to clearly identify the nature of these seeds. Their results also show that the concoctions produced by prehistoric men must have had a somewhat bitter taste. If today we use the same seeds in our kitchen, we take care to soak, heat and peel them to reduce and eliminate their bitterness. toxinstoxinsAnd it is very clear that our ancestors did the same! However, meal remains show that the seed coats were not completely removed, suggesting that prehistoric men preserved them in part to preserve the bitter taste and certainly to lighten their dishes.

Our culinary practices It could have been born several tens of thousands of years ago. This study also shows that Neanderthals, such as Homo sapiens A very diverse diet that includes many types of plants: seeds, herbs, roots, legumes, NutNutAnd berries.. which they prepared carefully before mixing them with meat or fishfish🇧🇷 Because if our ancestors definitely ate plants, isotopic analysis of their skeletons shows that their main source proteinprotein It was the meat. Neanderthals were big consumers of it, WhileHomo sapiens He will have a more varied diet🇧🇷