Evidence of cooked fish 780,000 years ago

November 14 () –

Examination of remains of a huge 2-meter carp marks the first signs of cooking by prehistoric humans 780,000 years ago, predates available data by about 600,000 years.

The remains were recovered at the Gesher Benot Ya’aqov (GBY) archaeological site in Israel and show that the fish was cooked approximately 780,000 years ago. Cooking is defined as the ability to process food by controlling the temperature to which it is heated and includes a wide range of methods.

Until now, the first evidence of cooking dates back approximately 170,000 years. The question of when early humans began using fire for cooking has been the subject of much scientific discussion for over a century. These findings shed new light on the matter and were published in Nature Ecology and Evolution.

Drs Irit Zohar, from Tel Aviv University, and Marion Prevost, from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, lead authors of the research, say: “This study demonstrates the great importance of fish in the life of prehistoric humans, for their diet and economic stability.. Furthermore, by studying the fish remains found at Gesher Benot Ya’aqob we were able to reconstruct, for the first time, the fish population of ancient Hula Lake and show that the lake was home to fish species that became extinct over time.”

“These species included giant barbs (carp-like fish) that reached up to 2 meters in length. The large number of fish remains found at the site demonstrate their frequent consumption by early humans, who developed special cooking techniques. These new The findings demonstrate not only the importance of freshwater habitats and the fish they contained to the livelihoods of prehistoric man, but also illustrate the ability of prehistoric humans to control fire in order to cook food, and their understanding of the benefits of cooking fish before eating it.”

In the study, the researchers focused on the pharyngeal teeth (used to grind hard food such as shells) belonging to fish in the carp family. These teeth were found in large numbers in different archaeological strata of the site. By studying the structure of the crystals that make up tooth enamel (the size of which increases with exposure to heat), the researchers were able to prove that fish caught in the ancient Hula Lake, adjacent to the site, were exposed to temperatures suitable for cooking. , and they were not simply burned by a spontaneous fire.

Until now, evidence for the use of fire for cooking has been limited to sites that began to be used much later than the GBY site, some 600,000 years ago, and most are associated with the rise of our own species, Homo sapiens.

Another author, Professor Naama Goren-Inbar, from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, added: “The fact that fish cooking is evident over such a long and uninterrupted period of settlement at the site indicates a continuing tradition of cooking food. This is another in a series of discoveries related to high levels of cognitive ability of Acheulean hunter-gatherers who were active in the ancient Hula Valley region.”

“These groups were deeply familiar with their environment and the various resources it offered them. Furthermore, it shows that they had extensive knowledge of the life cycles of different plant and animal species. Acquiring the necessary skill to cook food marks a significant evolutionary advance , as it provided an additional means of making optimal use of available food resources. It is even possible that cooking was not limited to fish, but also included various kinds of animals and plants.”

The authors note that the transition from eating raw food to eating cooked food had dramatic implications for human development and behavior. Eating cooked food reduces the body’s energy required to break down and digest food, allowing other physical systems to develop. It also leads to changes in the structure of the human jaw and skull.

This change freed humans from the intensive, daily work of foraging and digesting raw food, giving them free time to develop new social and behavioral systems. Some scientists see the consumption of fish as a milestone in the quantum leap in human life.