An international group of scientists from Germany and Belgium has revealed what the first farmers in Neolithic Europe ate. The research was published in the scientific journal broadcasting Journal of Archaeological Sciences: Reports (JASR).
Experts examined artifacts from the Funnel Beaker Culture, which existed in Southern Scandinavia and Northern Germany between 4000 and 2800 BC. The lifestyle of the people of this culture has been the subject of research for decades, but which plant foods the settlers preferred has remained a mystery until now.
The team analyzed ancient microfossils preserved on grinding stones at the village of Oldenburg LA 77, a Middle Neolithic settlement (3270-2929 BC) located on the southwestern coast of the Baltic Sea.
Excavations have provided evidence of numerous houses, a well, and thousands of individual finds such as flint artifacts, potsherds, and stone-grained millstones.
In addition to wheat and barley, scientists have also found traces of wild grains, acorns, starchy tubers and legumes.
At Oldenburg LA 77, biomarker evidence of conversion of these ingredients into fine flour was found; this indicates possible firing of the flat stones.
These results differ from excavations at another Huni Beaker site, the Frydenlund site in Germany (c. 3600 BC), which found no evidence of bread preparation.
Early European farmers chose similar grains for food, but their cooking methods differed, according to the study’s authors.
Previous scientists I learnedIt turns out that early hunter-gatherers ate more plant foods than meat.
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Source: Gazeta
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