Neanderthals lived in groups big enough to eat giant elephants

Meat from the butchered beasts would have fed hundreds.

Early Pleistocene faunivorous hominins were not kleptoparasitic, and this impacted the evolution of human anatomy and socio-ecology

Humans are unique in their diet, physiology and socio-reproductive behavior compared to other primates. They are also unique in the ubiquitous adaptation to all biomes and habitats. From an evolutionary perspective, these trends seem to have started about two million years ago, coinciding with the emergence of encephalization, the reduction of the dental apparatus, the adoption of a fully terrestrial lifestyle, resulting in the emergence of the modern anatomical bauplan, the focalization of certain activities in the landscape, the use of stone tools, and the exit from Africa. It is in this period that clear taphonomic evidence of a switch in diet with respect to Pliocene hominins occurred, with the adoption of carnivory. Until now, the degree of carnivorism in early humans remained controversial. A persistent hypothesis is that hominins acquired meat irregularly (potentially as fallback food) and opportunistically through klepto-foraging. Here, we test this hypothesis and show, in contrast, that the butchery practices of early Pleistocene hominins (unveiled through systematic study of the patterning and intensity of cut marks on their prey) could not have resulted from having frequent secondary access to carcasses. We provide evidence of hominin primary access to animal resources and emphasize the role that meat played in their diets, their ecology and their anatomical evolution, ultimately resulting in the ecologically unrestricted terrestrial adaptation of our species. This has major implications to the evolution of human physiology and potentially for the evolution of the human brain.

Multi-isotope analysis reveals that feasts in the Stonehenge environs and across Wessex drew people and animals from throughout Britain

The great henge complexes of southern Britain are iconic monuments of the third millennium BCE, representing great feats of engineering and labor mobilization that hosted feasting events on a previously unparalleled scale. The scale of movement and the catchments that the complexes served, however, have thus far eluded understanding. Presenting the largest five-isotope system archeological dataset (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr, δ³⁴S, δ¹⁸O, δ¹³C, and δ¹⁵N) yet fully published, we analyze 131 pigs, the prime feasting animals, from four Late Neolithic (approximately 2800 to 2400 BCE) complexes to explore the networks that the feasts served. Because archeological evidence excludes continental contact, sources are considered only in the context of the British Isles. This analysis reveals wide-ranging origins across Britain, with few pigs raised locally. This finding demonstrates great investment of effort in transporting pigs raised elsewhere over vast distances to supply feasts and evidences the very first phase of pan-British connectivity.

Shipping amphorae and shipping sheep? Livestock mobility in the north-east Iberian peninsula during the Iron Age based on strontium isotopic analyses of sheep and goat tooth enamel

Animal mobility is a common strategy to overcome scarcity of food and the related over-grazing of pastures. It is also essential to reduce the inbreeding rate of animal populations, which is known to have a negative impact on fertility and productivity. The present paper shows the geographic range of sheep provisioning in different phases of occupation at the Iron Age site of Turó de la Font de la Canya (7^th to 3^rd centuries BC). Strontium isotope ratios from 34 archaeological sheep and goat enamel, two archaeological bones and 14 modern tree leaves are presented. The isotopic results suggest that sheep and goats consumed at the site were reared locally (within a few kilometres radius) during the whole period of occupation. The paper discusses the isotopic results in light of the socio-political structure of this period, as complex, strongly territorial societies developed during the Iron Age in the north-east Iberian Peninsula.

Rabbit meat in need of a hat-trick: from tradition to innovation (and back)

Consumption of rabbit meat traces back to the ancient civilizations that prospered around the Mediterranean. Due to their small size, rabbits have mostly been included in traditional meals for direct consumption, with little historical urgency to develop preservation methods. Therefore, rabbit-based dishes are widespread throughout Europe, but few processed products are found. Despite its longstanding culinary value, an overall decline in the consumption of rabbit meat is discernible. As for all meat, this is related to a complex assemblage of contemporary anxieties about health, animal welfare, and the environment. Also, specific categorial dynamics are at play because rabbits have superimposed roles (e.g., livestock, game, vermin, and pets). For instance, their aspect of cuteness seems to interfere with their acceptability as a food. To counter the declining consumption of this valuable meat, reassuring discourses are required to point out its historical merit in health and culture ("story meat"). Also, its distinctive sensorial traits, nutritional profile, and technological properties should be valorized.

Hippophagy in the UK: a failed dietary revolution

This study explores the history of horseflesh consumption in modern Britain and France. It examines why horsemeat became relatively popular in France, but not Britain. These reasons include the active role of scientists, philanthropists, journalists and butchers. These figures did not actively promote horsemeat in Britain. These factors are as important as cultural and economic ones in explaining dietary transformation.

[Meat diet and use of milk in the history of Japan]

It is generally believed the Japanese race was formulated from multiple ethnic groups, with a strong influence from so-called "hunting people." The prohibition of a meat diet, however, was not a result of the dissemination of Buddhism, but was because of orders from the rulers at the time. Animal meat and milk are ideal protein sources for humans, which most likely contributed to the physical buildup and stamina of caucasians. Many heroes in the Japanese warring states period including Iyeyasu Tokugawa, Soun Hojo and Motonari Mori lived long with numerous offspring. In addition to good luck and inborn physical strength, it appears they were particularly careful with their daily habits including diet. Since around the Fifth Century AD, Japanese rulers began building government-run pastures in many places to raise horses and cattle, from which meat and dairy products were regularly supplied. As this episode portrays, beef-eating was practiced since ancient times, the popularity of which was so high that the Tokugawa Shogunate often attempted to control its consumption with prohibitive orders. The Imperial Court also tried to discourage a meat diet as it did not want rice-growing peasants to consume meat. Samurai, the warrior-class people, however, regularly hunted for wild animals for their own consumption. Many samurai of the warring states generally kept manufacturing facilities for weapons and armor, and such facilities regularly produced fresh meat as byproducts. A meat diet was essential for the success of warlords of the era. The production of butter, on the other hand, was introduced through Kudara in Seventh Century AD, and butter was a popular gift to provincial governors. Milk and dairy products became popular in the 15th Century along with the introduction of Christianity to Japan, and in the 18th Century, Yoshimune, the Shogun of the time, created retail stores for milk. Milk never became popular, however, probably because it does not go very well with cooked rice, the ubiquitous staple food in Japan.

Meat as a vector of transmission of bovine tuberculosis to humans in Spain: a historical perspective

If we consult current treatises that address tuberculosis infection by Mycobacterium bovis, we find that they neglect meat or accord it very little importance as a vector of transmission of tuberculosis to humans. However, several decades ago, the books of Veterinary Inspection concerning food dedicated numerous pages to tuberculosis in meat and the seizure of consumptive animals. The criteria or attitudes concerning meat from tuberculosis-infected animals have fluctuated over time, from rigorous extremes that, on one hand, required the seizure and destruction of the food products obtained from infected animals from a strictly hygienic measure, to other more practical considerations applying economic arguments, and which accepted the conditional use of these products due to the universal shortage of animal proteins. Consequently, the use or non-use of meat from animals infected with tuberculosis became one of the questions that prompted the greatest concern amongst researches and technicians. It is for these reasons that this paper addresses the history of meat as a vehicle of zoonotic transmission, highlighting its importance and repercussions on health inspections of meat in abattoirs.

Determination of the dietary habits of a Magdalenian woman from Saint-Germain-la-Rivière in southwestern France using stable isotopes

To obtain direct dietary information, carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios were measured from bone collagen acquired from the well-preserved skeleton of a Magdalenian woman from the site of Saint-Germain-la-Rivière in southwestern France. Comparison of delta13C and delta15N values of the human bone collagen to those of bone collagen from local herbivores and carnivores indicates that the woman's primary source of protein was the meat of large terrestrial herbivores. Application of a linear mixing model to the woman's isotopic signature indicates that (1) no significant marine-derived protein contributed to her average diet; (2) saiga antelope, which dominates the faunal remains at Saint-Germain-la-Rivière, was not the main source of terrestrial protein; and (3) her pattern of subsistence reflects a less opportunistic behavior than generally attributed to humans from this period. Dietary proportions of prey reflected by the number of identified specimens are revised using meat percentage estimates, which de-emphasize the importance of saiga antelope in human subsistence at Saint-Germain-la-Rivière during the middle Magdalenian.

[Veterinary medicine and public health or better: veterinary public health]

The development of veterinary medicine and its impact on public health are outlined in this overview. In relation to this, we speak of Veterinary Public Health. In 1865, the liberal J.R. Thorbecke initiated the institution of the later independent 'State Supervisory Public Health Inspectorate' was set up in 1920, as a consequence of the Meat Inspection Act of 1919, and became part of the State Supervisory Service. In 1925 the 'Veterinary Public Health Inspectorate', which was part of the Ministry of Public Health, and the 'Veterinary Service', which was part of the Ministry of Agriculture, formed together a so-called 'Personal Union'. This Union came to an end in 1984. During the nearly 60 years of its existence, and especially after the Second World War, the Union has contributed enormously to public health by controlling zoonoses and decreasing chemical contaminants in foodstuffs. In these achievements it has worked in collaboration with veterinary surgeons, meat inspection services, and research institutes such as the National Institute of Public Health and Environment (RIVM), the Institute for Animal Science and Health (ID-Lelystad), and the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine.

[Meat inspection in the second half of the 19th Century, sign of progress in applied sciences]

Meat inspection as applied science was born in the second half of the 19th Century due to research on intestinal parasites that can be carried over to man by pigs and bovine animals as well as to the study of tuberculosis. It was only during that period that meat inspection was taken over by the veterinarians from expert-butchers. During the industrialization and demographic increase in the urban areas bringing about a great need of meat, a group of professionals denied that meat coming from sick animals and especially from those infected by tuberculosis represents a danger to the population. Epidemiology and bacterial examination finally allowed to solve this problems as well as the development of modern chilling techniques assured a better conservation of the meat. At the end of the 19th Century an important legislation about meat inspection appeared throughout Europe.

"Unfit for human consumption": tuberculosis and the problem of infected meat in late Victorian Britain

By the 1890s, questions about tuberculous meat in Britain served to transform the issue of infected meat from an ill-defined to a concrete threat. Veterinarians, building on European inoculation (or transmission) experiments, played a prominent part in constructing the debate, with medical officers of health following. With the emergence of bacteriology in the 1880s, a consensus emerged about the dangers of tuberculous meat: Robert Koch's identification of the tubercle bacillus in 1882, and the connection he saw between bovine tuberculosis and the disease in man, provided confirmation of the disease's danger to man. It was from this point that veterinary and public health interests diverged. Whereas a general agreement had been reached, the extent of the problem remained open to doubt. Confusion revolved around two issues: the localization of infection, and the question of cooking. The latter was thought to make tuberculous meat "safe," as attention shifted to the problem of milk; whereas the former frustrated efforts to combat the sale of meat showing signs of infection.

[When blood and meat were drugs]

When one look at pharmaceutical advertising and trademarks at the beginning of the 20th century, several of them emphasize the interest of pharmaceutical specialties based on animal blood. This fashion goes back to Fuster's work in 1865 on tuberculosis, but also to Deschiens, Catillon, Adrian and mainly Richet. This interest for blood derivatives in therapy will progressively disappear after teh Second World war and with antibiotic discovery. Consequently, it has been a century of glory for these specialties that seem strange today in the context of HIV and ESB issues. But some of these research will be the basis for modern works on erythropoetin (the famous EPO).

A history of the traceability of animals and animal products

The author presents a review of the history of traceability as applied to live animals and animal products from antiquity to the 19th Century. The evidence shows that livestock farmers, owners, and those in charge of animal production and health were concerned with traceability from a very early stage. With regard to live animals, individual identification by means of body markings has been practised for over 3,800 years (Code of Hammurabi). Branding with a red-hot iron, with or without a written record of animal characteristics, was employed in most ancient civilisations. This branding technique was principally used on valuable animals, in particular horses, in which case a written record was kept. Individual indelible branding was used on other species over the following centuries, for example, on swans belonging to the Kings of England as early as the 13th Century. Branding for disease control purposes commenced later, prompted by the major epizootics (rinderpest, contagious bovine pleuropneumonia, glanders and rabies). Marking of animals formed part of a series of very pragmatic measures, and the penalties in the event of violation were much more severe than is currently the case. Although modern traceability techniques were not available, our ancestors, as early as the 17th Century, practised indelible branding and strict health certification. Animal products were likewise closely monitored, particularly during the epidemics of human plague during the 14th Century. Some animal products could not be traded internationally unless accompanied by a certificate of origin guaranteeing safety. During the major epizootics of the 18th Century, some contaminated products (meat, hides) were cut up, slashed or covered with lime to indicate that the product was unfit for trade or consumption.

[Dietary behavior of the Middle Ages in Grenoble: application of isotopic biogeochemistry of the Saint-Laurent cemetery (XIIIth-XVth centuries, Isère, France)]

Isotopic analysis of 13C and 15N of 47 bones from Saint-Laurent de Grenoble cemetery (Grenoble, Isère), from the end of medieval period (XIIIth-XVth centuries AD) allowed to define the food status of animals with regard to the humans and to discuss the variability amongst adults. Adults who died young and those with small stature may have had diets poor in animal protein. The consumption of animal proteins was more important in the XVth than in the XIVth century and could illustrate a typical urban food economy providing its population with a more diversified diet than in rural areas.

A zooarchaeological signature for meat storage: re-thinking the drying utility index

Although the practice of food storage is important to many questions addressed by archaeologists, demonstrating its presence in archaeological contexts can be difficult or impossible. One potentially useful approach to meat storage is the concept of the Drying Utility Index, introduced by Lewis Binford (1978) to predict which carcass portions, with attached bone, will be selected for storage by drying. However, this index has not been widely used by zooarchaeologists, at least in part because the calculations involved in its derivation are extremely complex. This paper presents a new, simplified index, the Meat Drying Index, which is easier to calculate and more transparent than the Drying Utility Index, yet which retains all of its key attributes. This new index is applied to caribou bone samples from two regions: Binford's (1978) Nunamiut data from northern Alaska, and the contents of three caches from the Barren Grounds of Canada, near Baker Lake, Nunavut. In both cases, the Meat Drying Index correlates with the observed element frequencies as well as, or better than, the original Drying Utility Index. As a result, the new index may prove applicable to element distributions from a wide range of archaeological contexts in which storage of meat by drying is suspected.

Isotopic evidence for the diet of an early hominid, Australopithecus africanus

Current consensus holds that the 3-million-year-old hominid Australopithecus africanus subsisted on fruits and leaves, much as the modern chimpanzee does. Stable carbon isotope analysis of A. africanus from Makapansgat Limeworks, South Africa, demonstrates that this early hominid ate not only fruits and leaves but also large quantities of carbon-13-enriched foods such as grasses and sedges or animals that ate these plants, or both. The results suggest that early hominids regularly exploited relatively open environments such as woodlands or grasslands for food. They may also suggest that hominids consumed high-quality animal foods before the development of stone tools and the origin of the genus Homo.