Origin of grains in early diets
…Oh my?
Humans feasting on grains for at least 100,000 years - Scientific American
“…Grains might have been an important part of human diets much further back in our history than previous research has suggested. Although cupcakes and crumpets were still a long way off during the Middle Stone Age, new evidence suggests that at least some humans of that time period were eating starchy, cereal-based snacks as early as 105,000 years ago. The findings, gleaned from grass seed residue found on ancient African stone tools, are detailed online Thursday in Science.
Researchers have assumed that humans were foraging for fruits, nuts and roots long before 100,000 years ago, but cereal grains are quite a new addition to the early prehistoric gastronomic picture. “This broadens the timeline for the use of grass seeds by our species,” Julio Mercader, an assistant professor at University of Calgary’s Department of Archeology and author of the paper, said in a prepared statement.
Plant domestication, most scientists think, made its debut some 10,000 years ago, with grain storage cropping up about 11,000 years ago. An ancient site in Israel yielded a hearty collection of grains, which were dated to about 23,000 years ago, according to a 2004 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences paper. But such an early appearance of wild cereals in the human diet—as this new paper proposes—would push the assumed date of substantial grass-seed eating back more than 70,000 years.
“…hungry humans appear to have been dining on during that period include the African false banana, pigeon peas, wild oranges, African wine palm and the African potato, the researchers concluded. These finds are “proof of an expanded and sophisticated diet much earlier than we believed,” Mercader said. And grain consumption was the first step toward grains’ domestication—and, eventually, cupcakes. …”
Only thing I have problem with is with these mistaken time-lines used; dead carbon from antediluvian time can appear as if it were yesterday.
Feasting?
Media always reaching for the dramatic…
Not to mention if you base your intake on one plant, when that plant dies (such as hail storms, it’s too cold, not enough rain, pests, etc.), you starve. If you base your diet on animals (with - maybe - plants as a backup), you live, especially if you travel with the animals.
I always love how when I post something the thread goes off in weird and unexpected ways. Not complaining, I actually enjoy this. But for the benefit of late posters who may not have clicked the original link, it is a cartoon JOKE about the discovery of grains and the reaction of the reluctant carnivores…
That said, carbon dating agrees SO WELL with geological models that I am pretty happy with it.
You can’t say the humor didn’t continue…
I didn’t find it funny because it’s inaccurate. There’s no master plan behind anything humans do.
I think this comment is hilarious. I don’t think “accuracy” is the goal of cartoons. But maybe I should have posted in Humor.
I imagine at some point the starchivores killed off all the carnivores as time went on and over thousands of years the bloody wars continued, times were hard for the carnivores as there cerebral cortex remained the same and the starchivores grew (developed) a larger cerebral cortex and then hunted, killed and ate all the carnivores…lol
The carnivores are returning in great numbers and the epic continues…
I like the term ”starchivore” which means we produce our own endogenous fat (butyrate) to induce ketosis naturally rather than swallowing a stick of grass fed butter for energy…lol
That does not mean I cannot still enjoy a nice lean ribeye or plate of fatty bacon and even an occasional carnivore.