Abstract
Although cooking is regarded as a key element in the evolutionary success of the genus Homo, impacting various biological and social aspects, when intentional cooking first began remains unknown. The early Middle Pleistocene site of Gesher Benot Ya’aqov, Israel (marine isotope stages 18–20; ~0.78 million years ago), has preserved evidence of hearth-related hominin activities and large numbers of freshwater fish remains (>40,000). A taphonomic study and isotopic analyses revealed significant differences between the characteristics of the fish bone assemblages recovered in eight sequential archaeological horizons of Area B (Layer II-6 levels 1–7) and natural fish bone assemblages (identified in Area A). Gesher Benot Ya’aqov archaeological horizons II-6 L1–7 exhibited low fish species richness, with a clear preference for two species of large Cyprinidae (Luciobarbus longiceps and Carasobarbus canis) and the almost total absence of fish bones in contrast to the richness of pharyngeal teeth (>95%). Most of the pharyngeal teeth recovered in archaeological horizons II-6 L1–7 were spatially associated with ‘phantom’ hearths (clusters of burnt flint microartifacts). Size–strain analysis using X-ray powder diffraction provided evidence that these teeth had been exposed to low temperature (<500 °C), suggesting, together with the archaeological and taphonomic data, that the fish from the archaeological horizons of Area B had been cooked and consumed on site. This is the earliest evidence of cooking by hominins.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 2016-2028 |
| Number of pages | 13 |
| Journal | Nature Ecology and Evolution |
| Volume | 6 |
| Issue number | 12 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Dec 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.
Funding
This study was supported by the Israel Science Foundation (ISF) Center of Excellence for the study of ‘Climate change in the Upper Jordan Valley between ca. 800 Ma and 700 Ma ago—its impact on the environment and hominins and its potential as a prediction for future scenarios’ (grant no. 300/06 and grant no. 858/09); ISF grant ‘The nature, scope and interpretation of the Acheulian variability at GBY’ (grant no. 27/12); Irene Levi Sala CARE Archaeological Foundation (grant nos. 178/09, 5/14 and 206/20); and the Dan David Foundation grant for ‘The search and study of modern humans’. Access to the NHM in London was also supported by the SYNTHESYS+ project, with funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement 823827. Isotope analysis was supported by funding from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant no. 681450). The Israel Antiquities Authority provided the permit for the archaeological excavations (G-101/97). This study was performed at the National Natural History Collections of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Edmond J. Safra Campus, Givat Ram; at the Institute of Archaeology of the Hebrew University, Mount Scopus, Jerusalem, Israel; at the SMNH, Tel Aviv University, Israel; at the Department of Archaeology, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia; and at the NHM in Brussels, Belgium. We thank T. Vennemann (University of Lausanne) and M. Maus (University of Mainz) for performing the phosphate oxygen isotope analysis of the silver phosphate samples. Micro-CT analyses were performed at the Dan David Center for Human Evolution and Biohistory Research and the Shmunis Family Anthropology Institute, Tel Aviv University, Israel. We thank H. May and A. Pokhojaev for their help and support. Part of this study was performed by I.Z. as a visiting researcher at the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Western Australia. We thank M. Goren from the SMNH, who provided us with tremendous help and support in the taxonomic study and the collection of freshwater fish; and W. Van Neer (NHM, Brussels; Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences), M. Richter, P. Campbell and O. Crimmen (NHM, UK) for providing access to their laboratories and osteological collections. We thank the late O. Bar-Yosef for providing us with access to the ‘Ubeidiya fish remains, A. Belfer-Cohen for scientific advice, E. Geffen for statistical assistance, K. Stewart for her constructive review and scientific suggestions to improve this manuscript, and also N. Paz and S. Gavrieli for the English editing. This study was supported by the Israel Science Foundation (ISF) Center of Excellence for the study of ‘Climate change in the Upper Jordan Valley between ca. 800 Ma and 700 Ma ago—its impact on the environment and hominins and its potential as a prediction for future scenarios’ (grant no. 300/06 and grant no. 858/09); ISF grant ‘The nature, scope and interpretation of the Acheulian variability at GBY’ (grant no. 27/12); Irene Levi Sala CARE Archaeological Foundation (grant nos. 178/09, 5/14 and 206/20); and the Dan David Foundation grant for ‘The search and study of modern humans’. Access to the NHM in London was also supported by the SYNTHESYS+ project, with funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement 823827. Isotope analysis was supported by funding from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant no. 681450). The Israel Antiquities Authority provided the permit for the archaeological excavations (G-101/97). This study was performed at the National Natural History Collections of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Edmond J. Safra Campus, Givat Ram; at the Institute of Archaeology of the Hebrew University, Mount Scopus, Jerusalem, Israel; at the SMNH, Tel Aviv University, Israel; at the Department of Archaeology, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia; and at the NHM in Brussels, Belgium. We thank T. Vennemann (University of Lausanne) and M. Maus (University of Mainz) for performing the phosphate oxygen isotope analysis of the silver phosphate samples. Micro-CT analyses were performed at the Dan David Center for Human Evolution and Biohistory Research and the Shmunis Family Anthropology Institute, Tel Aviv University, Israel. We thank H. May and A. Pokhojaev for their help and support. Part of this study was performed by I.Z. as a visiting researcher at the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Western Australia. We thank M. Goren from the SMNH, who provided us with tremendous help and support in the taxonomic study and the collection of freshwater fish; and W. Van Neer (NHM, Brussels; Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences), M. Richter, P. Campbell and O. Crimmen (NHM, UK) for providing access to their laboratories and osteological collections. We thank the late O. Bar-Yosef for providing us with access to the ‘Ubeidiya fish remains, A. Belfer-Cohen for scientific advice, E. Geffen for statistical assistance, K. Stewart for her constructive review and scientific suggestions to improve this manuscript, and also N. Paz and S. Gavrieli for the English editing.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Institute of Archaeology of the Hebrew University | |
| Irene Levi Sala Care Archaeological Foundation | 5/14, 178/09, 206/20 |
| Israel Antiquities Authority | G-101/97 |
| SMNH | |
| Shmunis Family Anthropology Institute | |
| University of Mainz | |
| Horizon 2020 Framework Programme | 823827 |
| Irene Levi Sala Care Archaeological Foundation | |
| European Commission | 681450 |
| Natural History Museum | |
| Dan David Prize | |
| University of Western Australia | |
| Israel Science Foundation | 300/06, 27/12, 858/09 |
| Tel Aviv University | |
| Université de Lausanne | |
| Koninklijk Belgisch Instituut voor Natuurwetenschappen |
