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[QUOTE]Originally posted by DD'eDeN: [QB] Earliest direct evidence of plant processing in prehistoric Saharan pottery Julie Dunne, Anna Maria Mercuri, Richard Evershed cs 2016 Nature Plants 3:16194 doi 10.1038/nplants.2016.194 The invention of thermally resistant ceramic cooking vessels c 15 ka was a major advance in human diet & nutrition, opening up new food groups & preparation techniques. Previous investigations of lipid bio-markers contained in food residues have routinely demonstrated the importance of prehistoric cooking pots for the processing of animal products across the world. Remarkably, however, direct evidence for plant processing in prehistoric pottery has not been forthcoming, despite the potential to cook otherwise unpalatable or even toxic plants. In N.Africa, archaeo-botanical evidence of charred & desiccated plant organs denotes that Early Holocene hunter-gatherers routinely exploited a wide range of plant resources. Here, we reveal the earliest direct evidence for plant processing in pottery globally, from Takarkori & Uan Afuda, Libyan Sahara 8200–6400 bC. Characteristic carbon number distributions & δ13C values for plant wax-derived n-alkanes & alkanoic acids indicate sustained & systematic processing of C3/C4 grasses & aquatic plants, gathered from the savannahs & lakes in the Early to Mid-Holocene green Sahara. ________ http://phys.org/news/2016-12-earliest-evidence-cooked-ancient-pottery.html Earliest evidence discovered of plants cooked in ancient pottery 19.12.16 Researchers studied unglazed pottery (>10 ka) from 2 sites in the Libyan Sahara. ... Ancient cooking would have initially involved the use of fires or pits: the invention of ceramic cooking vessels led to an expansion of food preparation techniques. Cooking would have allowed the consumption of previously unpalatable or even toxic foodstuffs, it would also have increased the availability of new energy sources. Until now, evidence of cooking plants in early prehistoric cooking vessels has been lacking. The researchers detected lipid residues of foodstuffs preserved within the fabric of unglazed cooking pots. Over half of the vessels studied were found to have been used for processing plants based on the identification of diagnostic plant oil & wax compounds. Detailed investigations of the molecular & stable isotope compositions showed a broad range of plants were processed: - grains, - the leafy parts of terrestrial plants & - most unusually aquatic plants. The interpretations of the chemical signatures obtained from the pottery are supported by abundant plant remains preserved in remarkable condition, due to the arid desert environment at the sites. The plant chemical signatures from the pottery show that the processing of plants was practiced for >4 ky, indicating the importance of plants to the ancient people of the prehistoric Sahara. Julie Dunne: "Until now, the importance of plants in prehistoric diets has been under-recognised, but this work demonstrates the importance of plants as a reliable dietary resource. These findings also emphasise the sophistication of these early hunter-gatherers in their utilisation of a broad range of plant types, and the ability to boil them for long periods of time in newly invented ceramic vessels would have significantly increased the range of plants prehistoric people could eat." Richard Evershed: "The finding of extensive plant wax & oil residues in early prehistoric pottery provides us with an entirely different picture of the way early pottery was used in the Sahara compared to other regions in the ancient world. Our new evidence fits beautifully with the theories proposing very different patterns of plant & animal domestication in Africa & Europe/Eurasia." - - - Note: much cooking can be and was done without pots. [/QB][/QUOTE]
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