New Research Shows How Early Humans Lived Before Agriculture
2024-05-09
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1A recent study shows that people who lived in caves in North Africa had already started to add a lot of plants to their diet about 15,000 years ago.
2The researchers examined the remains of a group of people found in a cave near Taforalt in northeastern Morocco.
3The people were part of the Iberomaurusian culture, which lived in what is now Morocco and Libya from 25,000 to 11,000 years ago.
4Tests showed the remains were about 15,000 years old.
5Examinations of teeth and bones showed that the people ate meat from animals called Barbary sheep.
6But they also ate wild plants such as beans, oats, pine nuts, pistachios and sweet acorns.
7Zineb Moubtahij is a doctoral student in archaeology at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany.
8Before this research, Moubtahij said, most scientists believed people from this time mostly ate meat.
9"However, the evidence from Taforalt demonstrates that plants constituted a big part of the hunter-gatherers' menu," Moubtahij added.
10Klervia Jaouen of the French research organization CNRS co-wrote the study.
11Jaouen said the study "suggests that possibly several populations in the world already started to include substantial amounts of plants in their diet."
12The group of 13 international researchers published its findings in Nature Ecology and Evolution.
13The researchers noted the people from that time were dependent on wild plants.
14Agriculture had not been developed yet.
15They did, however, harvest wild plants in season and store extra amounts to eat later if food was not easily available.
16The researchers said the evidence of food storage means the people used the cave for large parts of the year.
17They did not walk long distances in search of food.
18Moubtahij said the researchers did not find evidence of seafood in the diets of the cave-dwellers.
19But they did find that babies among the group began to eat plants sooner than scientists first thought.
20The remains found in the cave included those of two babies.
21The researchers studied the baby teeth and found the children were offered plants to eat at about 12 months.
22They were fully weaned from breastmilk earlier than researchers thought.
23Researchers believe North Africa is an important area for study because it was the last stop before modern humans traveled out of Africa and into other parts of the world.
24I'm Dan Friedell.
1A recent study shows that people who lived in caves in North Africa had already started to add a lot of plants to their diet about 15,000 years ago. 2The researchers examined the remains of a group of people found in a cave near Taforalt in northeastern Morocco. The people were part of the Iberomaurusian culture, which lived in what is now Morocco and Libya from 25,000 to 11,000 years ago. Tests showed the remains were about 15,000 years old. Examinations of teeth and bones showed that the people ate meat from animals called Barbary sheep. But they also ate wild plants such as beans, oats, pine nuts, pistachios and sweet acorns. 3Zineb Moubtahij is a doctoral student in archaeology at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany. 4Before this research, Moubtahij said, most scientists believed people from this time mostly ate meat. "However, the evidence from Taforalt demonstrates that plants constituted a big part of the hunter-gatherers' menu," Moubtahij added. 5Klervia Jaouen of the French research organization CNRS co-wrote the study. Jaouen said the study "suggests that possibly several populations in the world already started to include substantial amounts of plants in their diet." The group of 13 international researchers published its findings in Nature Ecology and Evolution. 6The researchers noted the people from that time were dependent on wild plants. Agriculture had not been developed yet. They did, however, harvest wild plants in season and store extra amounts to eat later if food was not easily available. 7The researchers said the evidence of food storage means the people used the cave for large parts of the year. They did not walk long distances in search of food. 8Moubtahij said the researchers did not find evidence of seafood in the diets of the cave-dwellers. But they did find that babies among the group began to eat plants sooner than scientists first thought. 9The remains found in the cave included those of two babies. The researchers studied the baby teeth and found the children were offered plants to eat at about 12 months. They were fully weaned from breastmilk earlier than researchers thought. 10Researchers believe North Africa is an important area for study because it was the last stop before modern humans traveled out of Africa and into other parts of the world. 11I'm Dan Friedell. 12Dan Friedell adapted this story for Learning English based on a report by Reuters. 13_____________________________________________ 14Words in This Story 15cave -n. a natural space that is underground 16archaeology -n. the study of ancient human life 17constitute -v. to make up or to form 18menu -n. a list of things to eat at a restaurant 19substantial -adj. an amount of something that is likely to be noticed 20dweller -n. a person who lives in a place 21weaned -adj. to no longer drink mother's milk 22We want to hear from you. What would you have done if you had lived before agriculture?