Stone Age Seafood-Based Diet Was Full Of Toxic Metals

Forbes ^ | Leap Day, February 29, 2020 | David Bressan

[SunkenCiv]

In 2015, researchers reported that cod caught off the North American coast around 6,500 years ago by Stone Age hunter-gatherers contained more than 20 times the levels of mercury recommended for humans today... They analyzed the chemical composition of bones of animals, like Atlantic cod and harp seals, disposed of in ancient garbage pits, and so preserved to this day. Both species were among the main ingredients in the diet of the local people, even if the early hunter-gatherers, based on cut marks found on the bones, also successfully hunted for haddock, whale, dolphin, reindeer and beaver.

The analyzed bones of the cod at these sites contained more than 20 times the maximum level of cadmium and up to four times the highest level of lead that today food safety authorities consider safe. Cadmium can cause kidney, liver, and lung diseases, while lead attacks the nervous system. The studied seal bones contained up to 15 times the recommended levels of cadmium, up to four times the recommended levels of lead, and high levels of mercury. Mercury can cause kidney problems and also damages the nervous system...

During the Last Glacial Maximum, about 20,000 years ago, sea levels were more than 900 feet (300 meters) lower, exposing large parts of the shelf areas of the continents Weathering and erosion caused rocks to break down, releasing heavy metals into the soil. At the end of the last ice-age, between about 14,000 and 6,000 years ago, the sea levels rebounded. The previously exposed areas were inundated and the metals became dissolved in the seawater. Over time the heavy metals will accumulate in the marine food chain, with humans acting as apex predator and getting the highest potentially toxic levels.

[ExGeeEye]

They swim in their own pee.

[Lean-Right]

“Stone Age Seafood-Based Diet Was Full Of Toxic Metals”
Got news for ya....It still is. Just don’t eat a ton
of fish every day. I’m almost 70. I love seafood.
A good Roman hamburger with pine nuts in between
your seafood cravings might be a good thing.

[Steve Van Doorn]

Thiomersal C20H9Br2HgNa2O6
Mercurochrome C9H9HgNaO2S
Phenylmercuric nitrate C6H5HgNO3
Thiomersal is used in vaccines. The other two are no longer sold in the US for health risks

[Candor7]

Welcome Fred. Its rare that I can send you something you haven’t already seen, LOL.

[9YearLurker]

And then we moved on to lead plates and copper steins.

[SunkenCiv]

Neanderthals made extensive use of coastal environments, munching on fish, crabs and mussels, researchers have found, in the latest study to reveal similarities between modern humans and our big-browed cousins.

Until now, many Neanderthal sites had shown only small-scale use of marine resources; for example, scattered shells. But now archaeologists have excavated a cave on the coast of Portugal and discovered a huge, structured deposit of remains, including from mussels and limpets, dating to between 106,000 and 86,000 years ago.

Researchers say the discovery shows that Neanderthals systematically collected seafood: in some layers the density of shells was as high as 370kg per cubic metre. They say this is exciting because the use of marine resources on such a scale and in such a way had previously been thought to be a trait of anatomically modern humans...

The discovery appears to throws cold water on the idea that the marine-rich diet of modern humans, high in fatty acids, helped them to outcompete Neanderthals as a result of better cognition.

A reconstruction of a Neanderthal created for the Natural History Museum in London. Photograph: Richard Gray/Alamy">A reconstruction of a Neanderthal created for the Natural History Museum in London.