Around 11,500 years ago, agriculture emerged in the Middle East, marking a significant turning point in human history. It brought about a radical change in nutrition and manner of life, surpassing that of hunter-gatherers, who had lived since Homo sapiens first appeared in Africa around 300,000 years ago.
The food of pre-agricultural humans has long been a mystery due to the lack of well-preserved human remains from the time before this turning point, but new research is beginning to shed light on this issue. Reconstructing the eating habits of one such North African society, scientists surprisingly found evidence of a diet high in plant-based foods.
The remains of seven individuals and a few solitary teeth, dating back about 15,000 years, were discovered in a cave near Taforalt in northeastern Morocco. The researchers analyzed chemical signatures in the bones and teeth of these individuals. The individuals belonged to the Iberomaurusian cultural group.
The kind and quantity of plants and meat they consumed were revealed by an analysis of the forms, or isotopes, of elements including carbon, nitrogen, zinc, sulfur, and strontium in these remnants. Remains of a variety of wild edible plants, such as sweet acorns, pine nuts, pistachios, oats, and legumes known as pulses, were discovered at the location. Based on bones found at the cave, the primary prey was a breed of sheep known as Barbary sheep.
It has long been believed that animal proteins made up the majority of the meals of hunter-gatherers. Zineb Moubtahij, a doctoral student in archaeology at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany and lead author of the study published on Monday in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, opens new tab, however, noted that the evidence from Taforalt demonstrates that plants constituted a big part of the hunter-gatherers’ menu.
According to Klervia Jaouen, an archeogeochemist and co-author of the study from the French research agency CNRS, “it is important as it suggests that possibly several populations in the world already started to include substantial amount of plants in their diet” in the time before agriculture was founded.
Between 25,000 and 11,000 years ago, hunter-gatherers known as the Iberomaurusians lived in portions of modern-day Morocco and Libya. There is evidence that the cave was used as a residence and a place to bury people.
The fact that these individuals spent a large amount of time in the cave annually suggests a more sedentary way of life than merely exploring the area and looking for resources, the researchers added. Their teeth showed a dependence on starchy plant species, and they took advantage of wild plants that matured at different times of the year.
According to the researchers, edible plants may have been kept in storage by the hunter-gatherers all year round to protect against seasonal fluctuations in prey and guarantee a steady supply of food.
The researchers discovered that these folks only consumed wild vegetation. Agriculturalization arrived in North Africa very late, and it was never developed by the Iberomaurusians.
It’s interesting to note that our research revealed very little indication of freshwater or seafood eating among these prehistoric populations. Furthermore, it appears that these people may have incorporated wild plants into their infants’ diets earlier than previously thought, according to Moubtahij.
In particular, we looked at how babies switched from breast milk to solid foods. Compared to adult solid food consumption, breast milk has a distinct isotopic signature and isotopic composition.”
Among the seven individuals whose remains were examined were two babies. The researchers were able to determine changes in the baby’s food over time by comparing the chemical content of the tooth, which is created during the breastfeeding period, with the composition of bone tissue, which reflects the diet just before death. The findings suggested that babies were weaned sooner than would be expected in a pre-agricultural society, starting solid foods at around the age of 12 months.
An important area to research the evolution of Homo sapiens and their spread beyond Africa is North Africa, which opens a new window.
“Getting to Know why some hunter-gatherer groups changed to agriculture while others did not can provide valuable insights into the drivers of agricultural development and the factors that influenced human societies’ decisions to adopt new subsistence strategies,” Moubtahij stated.
