1
|
Zohar I, Alperson-Afil N, Goren-Inbar N, Prévost M, Tütken T, Sisma-Ventura G, Hershkovitz I, Najorka J. Evidence for the cooking of fish 780,000 years ago at Gesher Benot Ya'aqov, Israel. Nat Ecol Evol 2022; 6:2016-2028. [PMID: 36376603 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-022-01910-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2022] [Accepted: 09/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Although cooking is regarded as a key element in the evolutionary success of the genus Homo, impacting various biological and social aspects, when intentional cooking first began remains unknown. The early Middle Pleistocene site of Gesher Benot Ya'aqov, Israel (marine isotope stages 18-20; ~0.78 million years ago), has preserved evidence of hearth-related hominin activities and large numbers of freshwater fish remains (>40,000). A taphonomic study and isotopic analyses revealed significant differences between the characteristics of the fish bone assemblages recovered in eight sequential archaeological horizons of Area B (Layer II-6 levels 1-7) and natural fish bone assemblages (identified in Area A). Gesher Benot Ya'aqov archaeological horizons II-6 L1-7 exhibited low fish species richness, with a clear preference for two species of large Cyprinidae (Luciobarbus longiceps and Carasobarbus canis) and the almost total absence of fish bones in contrast to the richness of pharyngeal teeth (>95%). Most of the pharyngeal teeth recovered in archaeological horizons II-6 L1-7 were spatially associated with 'phantom' hearths (clusters of burnt flint microartifacts). Size-strain analysis using X-ray powder diffraction provided evidence that these teeth had been exposed to low temperature (<500 °C), suggesting, together with the archaeological and taphonomic data, that the fish from the archaeological horizons of Area B had been cooked and consumed on site. This is the earliest evidence of cooking by hominins.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Irit Zohar
- The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
- Beit Margolin, Oranim Academic College of Education, Kiryat Tivon, Israel.
| | - Nira Alperson-Afil
- Institute of Archaeology, Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
| | - Naama Goren-Inbar
- Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Marion Prévost
- Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Thomas Tütken
- Institute of Geosciences, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Mainz, Germany
| | | | - Israel Hershkovitz
- Department of Anatomy and Anthropology, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
- The Shmunis Family Anthropology Institute, the Dan David Center for Human Evolution and Biohistory Research, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Jens Najorka
- Department of Core Research Laboratories, The Natural History Museum, London, UK
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
The cost of cooking for foragers. J Hum Evol 2021; 162:103091. [PMID: 34801770 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2021.103091] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/05/2020] [Revised: 09/30/2021] [Accepted: 10/01/2021] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Cooked food provides more calories to a consumer than raw food. When our human ancestors adopted cooking, the result was an increase in the caloric value of the diet. Generating the heat to cook, however, requires fuel, and accessing fuel was and remains a common problem for humanity. Cooking also frequently requires monitoring, special technology and other investments. These cooking costs should vary greatly across multiple contexts. Here I explain how to quantify this cooking trade-off as the ratio of the energetic benefits of cooking to the increased cost in handling time and examine the implications for foragers, including the first of our ancestors to cook. Ethnographic and experimental return rates and nutritional analysis about important prey items exploited by ethnohistoric Numic foragers in the North American Great Basin provide a demonstration of how the costs of cooking impact different types of prey. Foragers should make choices about which prey to capture based on expectations about the costs involved to cook them. The results indicate that the caloric benefit achieved by cooking meat is quickly lost as the cost of cooking increases, whereas many plant foods are beneficially cooked across a range of cooking costs. These findings affirm the importance of plant foods, especially geophytes, among foragers, and are highly suggestive of their importance at the onset of cooking in the human lineage.
Collapse
|
3
|
Characterization of structural changes in modern and archaeological burnt bone: Implications for differential preservation bias. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0254529. [PMID: 34320009 PMCID: PMC8318310 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0254529] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2020] [Accepted: 06/27/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Structural and thermodynamic factors which may influence burnt bone survivorship in archaeological contexts have not been fully described. A highly controlled experimental reference collection of fresh, modern bone burned in temperature increments 100-1200˚C is presented here to document the changes to bone tissue relevant to preservation using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. Specific parameters investigated here include the rate of organic loss, amount of bone mineral recrystallization, and average growth in bone mineral crystallite size. An archaeological faunal assemblage ca. 30,000 years ago from Tolbor-17 (Mongolia) is additionally considered to confirm visibility of changes seen in the modern reference sample and to relate structural changes to commonly used zooarchaeological scales of burning intensity. The timing of our results indicates that the loss of organic components in both modern and archaeological bone burnt to temperatures up to 700˚C are not accompanied by growth changes in the average crystallite size of bone mineral bioapatite, leaving the small and reactive bioapatite crystals of charred and carbonized bone exposed to diagenetic agents in depositional contexts. For bones burnt to temperatures of 700˚C and above, two major increases in average crystallite size are noted which effectively decrease the available surface area of bone mineral crystals, decreasing reactivity and offering greater thermodynamic stability despite the mechanical fragility of calcined bone. We discuss the archaeological implications of these observations within the context of Tolbor-17 and the challenges of identifying anthropogenic fire.
Collapse
|
4
|
Middle Pleistocene fire use: The first signal of widespread cultural diffusion in human evolution. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2021; 118:2101108118. [PMID: 34301807 PMCID: PMC8346817 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2101108118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Control of fire is one of the most important technological innovations within the evolution of humankind. The archaeological signal of fire use becomes very visible from around 400,000 y ago onward. Interestingly, this occurs at a geologically similar time over major parts of the Old World, in Africa, as well as in western Eurasia, and in different subpopulations of the wider hominin metapopulation. We interpret this spatiotemporal pattern as the result of cultural diffusion, and as representing the earliest clear-cut case of widespread cultural change resulting from diffusion in human evolution. This fire-use pattern is followed slightly later by a similar spatiotemporal distribution of Levallois technology, at the beginning of the African Middle Stone Age and the western Eurasian Middle Paleolithic. These archaeological data, as well as studies of ancient genomes, lead us to hypothesize that at the latest by 400,000 y ago, hominin subpopulations encountered one another often enough and were sufficiently tolerant toward one another to transmit ideas and techniques over large regions within relatively short time periods. Furthermore, it is likely that the large-scale social networks necessary to transmit complicated skills were also in place. Most importantly, this suggests a form of cultural behavior significantly more similar to that of extant Homo sapiens than to our great ape relatives.
Collapse
|
5
|
Ben-Dor M, Sirtoli R, Barkai R. The evolution of the human trophic level during the Pleistocene. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2021; 175 Suppl 72:27-56. [PMID: 33675083 DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.24247] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2020] [Revised: 12/07/2020] [Accepted: 01/19/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
The human trophic level (HTL) during the Pleistocene and its degree of variability serve, explicitly or tacitly, as the basis of many explanations for human evolution, behavior, and culture. Previous attempts to reconstruct the HTL have relied heavily on an analogy with recent hunter-gatherer groups' diets. In addition to technological differences, recent findings of substantial ecological differences between the Pleistocene and the Anthropocene cast doubt regarding that analogy's validity. Surprisingly little systematic evolution-guided evidence served to reconstruct HTL. Here, we reconstruct the HTL during the Pleistocene by reviewing evidence for the impact of the HTL on the biological, ecological, and behavioral systems derived from various existing studies. We adapt a paleobiological and paleoecological approach, including evidence from human physiology and genetics, archaeology, paleontology, and zoology, and identified 25 sources of evidence in total. The evidence shows that the trophic level of the Homo lineage that most probably led to modern humans evolved from a low base to a high, carnivorous position during the Pleistocene, beginning with Homo habilis and peaking in Homo erectus. A reversal of that trend appears in the Upper Paleolithic, strengthening in the Mesolithic/Epipaleolithic and Neolithic, and culminating with the advent of agriculture. We conclude that it is possible to reach a credible reconstruction of the HTL without relying on a simple analogy with recent hunter-gatherers' diets. The memory of an adaptation to a trophic level that is embedded in modern humans' biology in the form of genetics, metabolism, and morphology is a fruitful line of investigation of past HTLs, whose potential we have only started to explore.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Miki Ben-Dor
- Department of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | | | - Ran Barkai
- Department of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Iovita R, Braun DR, Douglass MJ, Holdaway SJ, Lin SC, Olszewski DI, Rezek Z. Operationalizing niche construction theory with stone tools. Evol Anthropol 2021; 30:28-39. [PMID: 33475216 DOI: 10.1002/evan.21881] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/21/2019] [Revised: 05/12/2020] [Accepted: 12/13/2020] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
Abstract
One of the greatest difficulties with evolutionary approaches in the study of stone tools (lithics) has been finding a mechanism for tying culture and biology in a way that preserves human agency and operates at scales that are visible in the archaeological record. The concept of niche construction, whereby organisms actively construct their environments and change the conditions for selection, could provide a solution to this problem. In this review, we evaluate the utility of niche construction theory (NCT) for stone tool archaeology. We apply NCT to lithics both as part of the "extended phenotype" and as residuals or precipitates of other niche-constructing activities, suggesting ways in which archaeologists can employ niche construction feedbacks to generate testable hypotheses about stone tool use. Finally, we conclude that, as far as its applicability to lithic archaeology, NCT compares favorably to other prominent evolutionary approaches, such as human behavioral ecology and dual-inheritance theory.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Radu Iovita
- Center for the Study of Human Origins, Department of Anthropology, New York University, New York, New York, USA.,Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.,Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - David R Braun
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.,Department of Anthropology, George Washington University, Washington, District of Columbia, USA
| | - Matthew J Douglass
- College of Agricultural Science and Natural Resources, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA.,Agricultural Research Division, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA
| | - Simon J Holdaway
- School of Social Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.,Department of Archaeology, University of York, York, UK
| | - Sam C Lin
- Centre for Archaeological Science and Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, Australia
| | - Deborah I Olszewski
- Department of Anthropology and University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Zeljko Rezek
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.,Department of Anthropology and University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Brittingham A, Hren MT, Hartman G, Wilkinson KN, Mallol C, Gasparyan B, Adler DS. Geochemical Evidence for the Control of Fire by Middle Palaeolithic Hominins. Sci Rep 2019; 9:15368. [PMID: 31653870 PMCID: PMC6814844 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-51433-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2018] [Accepted: 09/13/2019] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The use of fire played an important role in the social and technological development of the genus Homo. Most archaeologists agree that this was a multi-stage process, beginning with the exploitation of natural fires and ending with the ability to create fire from scratch. Some have argued that in the Middle Palaeolithic (MP) hominin fire use was limited by the availability of fire in the landscape. Here, we present a record of the abundance of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), organic compounds that are produced during the combustion of organic material, from Lusakert Cave, a MP site in Armenia. We find no correlation between the abundance of light PAHs (3-4 rings), which are a major component of wildfire PAH emissions and are shown to disperse widely during fire events, and heavy PAHs (5-6 rings), which are a major component of particulate emissions of burned wood. Instead, we find heavy PAHs correlate with MP artifact density at the site. Given that hPAH abundance correlates with occupation intensity rather than lPAH abundance, we argue that MP hominins were able to control fire and utilize it regardless of the variability of fires in the environment. Together with other studies on MP fire use, these results suggest that the ability of hominins to manipulate fire independent of exploitation of wildfires was spatially variable in the MP and may have developed multiple times in the genus Homo.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Alex Brittingham
- Department of Anthropology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA.
| | - Michael T Hren
- Department of Geoscience, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA
- Department of Chemistry, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA
| | - Gideon Hartman
- Department of Anthropology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA
- Center for Environmental Science and Engineering, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA
| | - Keith N Wilkinson
- Department of Archaeology, Anthropology and Geography, University of Winchester, Winchester, SO22 4NR, United Kingdom
| | - Carolina Mallol
- Palaeolithic Hunter-Gatherer Societies Research Group, Universidad de La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
- U.D.I. de Prehistoria, Arqueología e Hª Antigua (Dpto. Geografía e Historia), Universidad de La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
- Archaeological Micromorphology and Biomarkers (AMBI Lab), Instituto Universitario de Bio-Orgánica Antonio González, Universidad de La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
| | - Boris Gasparyan
- Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia, Charents 15, Yerevan, Armenia
| | - Daniel S Adler
- Department of Anthropology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Goldfield AE, Booton R, Marston JM. Modeling the role of fire and cooking in the competitive exclusion of Neanderthals. J Hum Evol 2018; 124:91-104. [PMID: 30177445 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2018.07.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2017] [Revised: 07/14/2018] [Accepted: 07/16/2018] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
The Neanderthal body was more robust and energetically costly than the bodies of anatomically modern humans (AMH). Different metabolic budgets between competing populations of Neanderthals and AMH may have been a factor in the varied ranges of behavior and timelines for Neanderthal extinction that we see in the Paleolithic archaeological record. This paper uses an adaptation of the Lotka-Volterra model to determine whether metabolic differences alone could have accounted for Neanderthal extinction. In addition, we use a modeling approach to investigate Neanderthal fire use, evidence for which is much debated and is variable throughout different climatic phases of the Middle Paleolithic. The increased caloric yield from a cooked versus a raw diet may have played an important role in population competition between Neanderthals and AMH. We arrive at two key conclusions. First, given differences in metabolic budget between Neanderthals and AMH and their dependence on similar or overlapping food resources, Neanderthal extinction is likely inevitable over the long term. Second, the rate of Neanderthal extinction increases as the frequency of AMH fire use increases. Results highlight the importance of understanding the variable behaviors at play on a regional scale in order to understand global Neanderthal extinction. We also emphasize the importance of understanding the role of fire use in the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Anna E Goldfield
- Department of Archaeology, Boston University, 675 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA, 02115 USA.
| | - Ross Booton
- Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield, South Yorkshire S10 2TN, United Kingdom
| | - John M Marston
- Department of Archaeology, Boston University, 675 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA, 02115 USA
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Experimental methods for the Palaeolithic dry distillation of birch bark: implications for the origin and development of Neandertal adhesive technology. Sci Rep 2017; 7:8033. [PMID: 28860591 PMCID: PMC5579016 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-08106-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2017] [Accepted: 07/12/2017] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
The destructive distillation of birch bark to produce tar has recently featured in debates about the technological and cognitive abilities of Neandertals and modern humans. The abilities to precisely control fire temperatures and to manipulate adhesive properties are believed to require advanced mental traits. However, the significance given to adhesive technology in these debates has quickly outgrown our understanding of birch bark tar and its manufacture using aceramic techniques. In this paper, we detail three experimental methods of Palaeolithic tar production ranging from simple to complex. We recorded the fuel, time, materials, temperatures, and tar yield for each method and compared them with the tar known from the Palaeolithic. Our results indicate that it is possible to obtain useful amounts of tar by combining materials and technology already in use by Neandertals. A ceramic container is not required, and temperature control need not be as precise as previously thought. However, Neandertals must have been able to recognize certain material properties, such as adhesive tack and viscosity. In this way, they could develop the technology from producing small traces of tar on partially burned bark to techniques capable of manufacturing quantities of tar equal to those found in the Middle Palaeolithic archaeological record.
Collapse
|
10
|
Sandgathe DM. Identifying and Describing Pattern and Process in the Evolution of Hominin Use of Fire. CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY 2017. [DOI: 10.1086/691459] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
|
11
|
|
12
|
Aldeias V. Experimental Approaches to Archaeological Fire Features and Their Behavioral Relevance. CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY 2017. [DOI: 10.1086/691210] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
|
13
|
|
14
|
|
15
|
Gowlett JAJ, Brink JS, Caris A, Hoare S, Rucina SM. Evidence of Burning from Bushfires in Southern and East Africa and Its Relevance to Hominin Evolution. CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY 2017. [DOI: 10.1086/692249] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
|
16
|
|
17
|
Dibble HL, Abodolahzadeh A, Aldeias V, Goldberg P, McPherron SP, Sandgathe DM. How Did Hominins Adapt to Ice Age Europe without Fire? CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY 2017. [DOI: 10.1086/692628] [Citation(s) in RCA: 54] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
|
18
|
Aiello LC. Fire and the Genus Homo. CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY 2017. [DOI: 10.1086/692275] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
|