What makes humans different from other animals? Scientists believe that humans are distinguished from other animals because of their ability to control fire.
Richard Wrangham, a British primatologist, is a strong advocate of the so-called “The Greatest Primatologist” (or “The Greatest”) method.Cooking Hypotheses‘. It is believed that cooking is a vital skill and that there is no human population who does not cook.
Wrangham asserts that the evolutionary shift to cooked foods was the “.Transformative moment“That fuelled the stomachs of early humans and allowed them to grow their brains, giving rise eventually to our genus.
It is now even easier to digest this idea due to a recent discovery in Israel.
A team of international scientists has claimed to have discovered the earliest evidence of prehistoric human cooking in the northern region of the Dead Sea.
Gesher Benot Ya’aqov is an archeological site where remains of ancient carp-like fishing fish have been found. They are thought to have been carefully heated 780,000 year ago.
Although the discovery isn’t the oldest evidence that early humans used fire to control their environment, it is the oldest in Eurasia. Africa Homo erectusSites Dating back to at least 1.5 Million Yearsinclude charcoal and burnt bone.
These are just circumstantial signs that something is burning. They don’t necessarily indicate that it has been cooked. The latter are much more difficult to find.
In reality, evidence of cooking doesn’t appear in archaeological records until after the arrival Neanderthals. Homo sapiens. The oldest evidence of cooking was found in the Remains of starchy plants heatedIt was found in an underground oven in Africa. This site dates back only 170,000 years.
This is 600,000 years ago that early Israelis cooked fish in a valley close to the Dead Sea.
“We don’t know the exact method of cooking the fish, but it is evident that they were not directly cooked in fire. They were also not placed into fire to burn waste. SaysJens Najorka is an archaeologist from the Natural History Museum in London.
According to the team’s latest analysis, the teeth of an ancient freshwater fish were found at the site. They were captured at a nearby lake that is no longer in existence and allowed to cook at suitable temperatures.
These discoveries push back fire control from our ancestors to the mid-Pleistocene when human populations were at their lowest. Homo erectus were Giving way to larger-brained homininsLike Homo heidelbergensis.
“The evolution of cooking skills was a significant step forward in evolutionary history. It provided additional ways to maximize food resources.” explainsNaama Goren Inbar is an archaeologist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
It’s possible that cooking did not only include fish but also other animals and plants.
Gesher Benot Ya’aqob contains many remains of ancient hominins. Here archaeologists found evidence of limestone, basalt, and flint tools, along with fruits, nuts and seeds from many land mammals, large and small.
It is clear that the people who lived in this valley were familiar with the land. Research shows that this population thrived because they were knowledgeable about freshwater habitats.
It could have even allowed humans to move from Africa. Hominins could have a steady supply of fresh water by jumping from one freshwater habitat into another.
Scientists know this. For years, arguedFish rich in omega fatty acid, zinc and other vital nutrients is what enabled the brain to develop such complexity.
Although raw fish was probably fine for the earliest hominins, cooked fish would have been more digestible and prevented them from eating dangerous pathogens. It would have provided hominin brains with a greater supply of nutrients.
It is possible that the Israeli fish fry was just the beginning of human culinary prowess.
“This study provides evidence of fish cooking by early hominid … emphasizing the role of wetland habitats in offering a stable, year-round source of food that played an important role in hominin subsistence and dispersal across the Old World,” the authors Final conclusion.
The study was published by Nature Ecology and Evolution.
