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IIf you cherish the recipe for special pasta salad from your aunt, you may have something in common with the Neanderthals. Our former ancestors may have transmitted family cooking traditions, according to the recently reported results of two caves in Israel.
50,000 and 60,000 years ago, two groups of Neanderthals spent their winters in caves about 40 miles from the other on sites called Kebara and Amud. While the two communities used comparable flint tools and had access to similar prey, such as deer and gazelles, scientists have recovered evidence that human ancestors seem to have prepared their food in a unique way. This suggests that the influence of distinct cultural practices potentially transmitted among the generations of Neanderthals, said the team of archaeologists in the journal Borders in environmental archeology.
In the caves of Kebara and Amud, the researchers closely inspected the remains of Neanderthal meals from throughout their millennial stay, and noticed key differences. On the one hand, Kebara’s Neanderthals seemed to prefer to hunt large animals more than those of Amud, cooking more aurochs – an extinguished type of beef – as well as animals in the horses family.
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There were also differences in cutting marks on the bones of the animals chased and cooked. In Amud, the cutting brands tended to be more grouped and bent compared to those observed in Kebara. This could come from butcher’s preferences: the Neanderthals of the AMUD cave may have tended to bring the carcasses back home, rather than cut them on the spot after a hunt. They might have left the meat to dry, as today’s butchers often do it to improve sensitivity and flavor. Decomposition carcasses could cause random, deep and winding brands of cutting, “write the authors.
These cutting brands could also be affected by the number of people involved in the butcher’s shop and the specific cutting techniques used. But more research is necessary to grasp the details of the culinary practices of these former hominines – and perhaps even find Some recipes from the Neanderthal family.
Lead image: Clover Lucky / Shutterstock
