Ancient cooking pots reveal gradual transition to agriculture

University of York ^ | October 24, 2011

[decimon]

Humans may have undergone a gradual rather than an abrupt transition from fishing, hunting and gathering to farming, according to a new study of ancient pottery.

Researchers at the University of York and the University of Bradford analysed cooking residues preserved in 133 ceramic vessels from the Western Baltic regions of Northern Europe to establish whether these residues were from terrestrial, marine or freshwater organisms.

The research led by Oliver Craig (York) and Carl Heron (Bradford) included an international team of archaeologists from The Heritage Agency of Denmark, The National Museum of Denmark, Moesgård Museum (Denmark), Christian-Albrechts-Universität, Kiel (Germany) and the Archäologisches Landesmuseum, Schleswig (Germany).

The project team studied ceramic pots from 15 sites dating to around 4,000 BC– the time when the first evidence of domesticated animals and plants was found in the region. The research, which was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, is published online in the latest edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

[decimon]

Caption: These artifacts are thought to have been votive offerings by the earliest farming communities who lived in this area. Chemical analysis of charred food residues preserved on inside of a number of these vessels show they were used for processing freshwater fish, which supplemented their fledgling agricultural economy.

Credit: Image courtesy of Anders Fischer

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[decimon]

Sow long ping.

[Red_Devil 232]

Those people who liked to fish continued to fish. That is all. It is fun!

[Wpin]

I did not realize that it was thought that the transition from hunter gatherer to agricultural was rapid...

I would think that like most new technology and knowledge (especially back then) that dispersion would be slower rather than faster...

[keats5]

Sounds like somebody is trying to get tenure.

[SunkenCiv]

GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach	join list or digest view topics view or post blog bookmark post a topic subscribe
Thanks decimon. Wow, could FR *run* any slower? To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.

[wildbill]

One pot showed the charred remains of human flesh, wild rice and dandelion greens. It is the first reported find of hummus in pre-historic Man.

[SunkenCiv]

;’)