Posted on 01/04/2019 1:38:06 PM PST by SunkenCiv
The levels of nitrogen-15 in Neanderthal bones are so high that they suggest the early human relatives ate more meat than do carnivores such as hyenas. According to a Science News report, paleobiologist Kimberly Foecke of George Washington University thinks those high levels of nitrogen-15 might be due to the condition of the meat that Neanderthals consumed. To check the levels of nitrogen in rotting meat, Foecke left steaks cut from animals that had been raised without hormones or antibiotics outside in a box covered with mesh, and sampled them daily for 16 days. Preliminary results suggest that the levels of nitrogen-15 fluctuated as the meat rotted, and increased during the first week, while the meat was still moist. Foecke says that could account for the high levels of nitrogen-15 found in Neanderthal remains, since the carcass of a large animal might have fed a Neanderthal group for several days. She will next test what happens to the levels of nitrogen-15 in cooked and smoked meats over time.
(Excerpt) Read more at archaeology.org ...
a good one for the weekly digest ping.
So, dry aged steaks from organically raised cattle will make you into a neanderthal?
A Traditional Neanderthal Home | Zach Zorich | March/April 2017
Rising out of the English Channel on the island of Jersey is one of the longest-occupied Neanderthal sites in the world. "La Cotte de Saint Brelade is this mega-site, a massive, deeply ravined granite headland on the far corner of northwest Europe providing a record spanning more than 200,000 years," says Matthew Pope, a geoarchaeologist at University College London. The question that Pope and the Crossing the Threshold project research team is asking is what makes a site like La Cotte a "persistent" place? Why was this location occupied across millennia, even as the environmental conditions changed? There are several possible answers the team is investigating.
When Neanderthals lived at the site, between 240,000 and 40,000 years ago, the English Channel was dry land and the granite rock formation may have been an important landmark. According to Pope, around this time, hominins started to use fire regularly, and innovated new tool technologies and hunting practices. This may have pushed Neanderthals to start thinking differently about how they used the resources of the landscapes around them and changed how they thought about the places they called home.
My mouth is watering.
Starch grains???
What, you mean, no Big Macs, or Whoppers??? Or Wendy’s Double Cheeseburgers????
:^)
More than what the ancient people ate, more important is to know how often they ate. They did not have stocks of ready to eat foods sitting in the fridge. Daily search for food most likely began at dawn, and by the time they found and killed an animal and dragged the carcass back to the cave to be butchered -or- found enough fruits and root vegetables was several hours later. And after they had eaten a belly full that was most likely well into late afternoon and was probably the last and only meal of the day.
If this ritual went on for a million years or so before agriculture was invented about 15,000 years ago, human genes have 98.5% cave man genes.
So..follow your genes, walk a lot every day and eat a lot in a short period of time every day for the best chance of avoiding modern man diseases like diabetes, heart disease and joint pains.
That kills my Neanderthal Vegan Fine Dining plan.
“[...] suggest the early human relatives ate more meat than do carnivores [...]”
Stopped reading right there. That statement makes no sense at at all. Where did editing disappear to?
Beef tips with mango chutney, penne pasta and a bottle Merlot.
Europeans like to hang their meat until the fly lava tenderize it then they scrape off the green goo. Likely also has high levels of N-15. Nothing has changed. The meat is really good by the way.
If you are a caveman with a spear, I don’t think you would try to dig a garden with it. Other than some wild plants or berries they knew about, what else would you expect them to eat?
No food pyramid...
Did they have a way of preserving meat?
Homo sapien is only skin deep;
Neanderthal goes to the bone.
Plus if you have that much nitrogen-15,
you speak with a New Jersey accent.
No even a ... sniff ... Filet ‘O Fish sandwich to tide them over...
Damn... rough living, for sure...
Hey, no nanny state to tell them what they can and can’t eat.
“...no nanny state...”
WHAT??? YOU MEAN ... GASP ... NO ARUGULA?????
The horror.... the horror ... the horror....
Nope, which is why they gorged on the meat when it was available. Then starved for several days. Which is very good for your body.
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