Research

Scientists answered, what else the human ancestors ate.

Scientists are constantly studying our ancestors toanswer many questions about their lives. One of the tools that helps in this is the isotopic analysis of bones: so, thanks to him, he was able to find out what Neanderthals most often ate. A study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

According to experts, the main dietNeanderthals consisted of the meat of herbivores - deer and horses. To this end, anthropologists have studied the remains of a Neanderthal with the latest method of CSIA: he gave information about the origin of certain chemicals. Investigating the isotopic composition of nitrogen, scientists concluded that the proportion of heavy nitrogen isotopes in carnivores is higher than that of herbivores. The measurement of this indicator in Neanderthals (from the tooth) showed that they ate the meat of animals.

This is indicated by a high proportion of nitrogen-15 in the tissues.Neanderthal man, who testifies that he was carnivorous. What exactly was eating? Scientists agreed that mainly for breakfast, lunch and dinner he had reindeer and horses. This refutes early research that Neanderthals ate rotten meat to increase the nitrogen-15 content. Also, scientists do not exclude that the food was subjected to pre-treatment. The question of when a person began to use the fire for cooking, is still the subject of heated debate. Some scientists believe that it happened 1.8 million years ago. Traces of eating fish or meat of predators were not found.

Early analysis of tartar on an ancient toothNeanderthals showed that they could adapt to different types of food, and also revealed the presence of deposits of inedible plant origin, the remains of butterfly wings and parts of limbs of other ancient insect species. Therefore, to unequivocally determine the diet of "ancient people" is still difficult.

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