Evidence of plant food processing is a significant indicator of the human ability to exploit environmental resources. The recovery of starch grains associated with use-wear on Palaeolithic grinding tools offers proof of a specific technology for making flour among Pleistocene hunter-gatherers. Here we present the analysis of five grindstones from two Italian sites, Riparo Bombrini and Grotta di Castelcivita, both inhabited during a crucial phase spanning the decline of the Neanderthals and the establishment of Sapiens. The recovery of starch grains on a Mousterian grindstone at Bombrini suggests that the last Neanderthals not only consumed and processed plants but also made flour 43-41,000 years ago. Starch grains attributable to Triticeae on Protoaurignacian grindstones at both sites testify that Sapiens were processing wild cereals at least 41,500-36,500 years ago when they expanded into Eurasia, long before the dawn of agriculture. These new data suggest a profound knowledge of available plant resources in both human groups.Crown Copyright & COPY; 2023 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
New evidence of plant food processing in Italy before 40ka / Mariotti Lippi M.; Aranguren B.; Arrighi S.; Attolini D.; Benazzi S.; Boschin F.; Florindi S.; Moroni A.; Negrino F.; Pallecchi P.; Pisaneschi L.; Riel-Salvatore J.; Ronchitelli A.; Revedin A.. - In: QUATERNARY SCIENCE REVIEWS. - ISSN 0277-3791. - STAMPA. - 312:(2023), pp. 0-0. [10.1016/j.quascirev.2023.108161]
New evidence of plant food processing in Italy before 40ka
Mariotti Lippi M.;Attolini D.
;Pallecchi P.;
2023
Abstract
Evidence of plant food processing is a significant indicator of the human ability to exploit environmental resources. The recovery of starch grains associated with use-wear on Palaeolithic grinding tools offers proof of a specific technology for making flour among Pleistocene hunter-gatherers. Here we present the analysis of five grindstones from two Italian sites, Riparo Bombrini and Grotta di Castelcivita, both inhabited during a crucial phase spanning the decline of the Neanderthals and the establishment of Sapiens. The recovery of starch grains on a Mousterian grindstone at Bombrini suggests that the last Neanderthals not only consumed and processed plants but also made flour 43-41,000 years ago. Starch grains attributable to Triticeae on Protoaurignacian grindstones at both sites testify that Sapiens were processing wild cereals at least 41,500-36,500 years ago when they expanded into Eurasia, long before the dawn of agriculture. These new data suggest a profound knowledge of available plant resources in both human groups.Crown Copyright & COPY; 2023 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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