Posted on 06/26/2014 7:54:45 PM PDT by blam
Will Dunham, Reuters
Jun. 26, 2014
Don't laugh, but the discovery of the oldest known human poop is offering valuable scientific insight into the life of Neanderthals who lived in Spain some 50,000 years ago.
Scientists said on Wednesday they found five samples of human fecal matter at an archeological site called El Salt, in the floor of a rock shelter where Neanderthals once lived.
Analysis of the samples provided a new understanding of the diet of this extinct human species, offering the first evidence that Neanderthals were omnivores who also ate vegetables as part of their meat-heavy diet, they said.
The straight poop: Fossil feces is not merely prehistoric toilet humor.
"So far, it is the only fossil evidence that gives us information of the ingestion and the regular meals of our ancestors," said Ainara Sistiaga, a geoarchaeologist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and University of La Laguna who was one of the researchers.
"Understanding the diet of past human species closely related to our own will help us gain perspective on our evolutionary constraints and adaptability," Sistiaga added.
The researchers examined the fecal fossils for biologically derived indicators of the types of food the Neanderthals ate.
Their findings indicate that Neanderthals predominantly consumed meat, as suggested by high amounts of one such "biomarker" called coprostanol formed by the bacterial reduction of cholesterol in the gut. But they also found evidence for significant plant intake as shown by the presence of a compound called 5 beta-stigmastanol, found in plant sources.
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I’m induging in carrot slices as a midnite snack. Try to eat a piece of fruit per day.
I’ve always wondered who that first intrepid human(oid?) was who ate oysters.
Not given the low fertility caused by the brutal conditions plus an extremely high infant mortality rate.
Go to Japan. you will never ask that question again. If it moves, the Japanese have a recipe. If it doesn’t they also have a recipe.
And if it used to move and does not anymore, I have seen a ‘dish’ with electrodes hooked up so that it does. And I am not remotely kidding.
"Really? No mango salsa? I question your research."
Fung schwing, Fung schway = oriental saurkraut!!!
Perhaps they wiped with newspaper ;-)
I was thinking of Nick Nolte’s bum character in that film (the title of which I cannot recall) in which Bette Midler was running around yelling “call 911!”.
“Down and Out in Beverly Hills”
That’s the one!
Carrots - an excellent source for Vitamin A (vision, immune system, bones)
lol...you’re better than me...I had some cereal.
Apropos to nothing, for some strange reason the other day I got to thinking... the only cultures that don’t seem to have a native bread are the Japanese/Chinese, and perhaps Pacific Islanders. I know they have rice and noodles, but bread would pre-date that by a lot (I think?) Bread doesn’t have to be wheat-based, so why is that? Or am I just totally off?
Probably by radio-carbon dating. 50,000 years is getting close to the maximum you can measure with carbon dating. I saw a couple sites that said 60,000 years is the maximum because there isn't enough C14 to measure accurately.
If you do the math, there would ne much more people living today if we have ben around that long.
Except for those times when you lose half the population due to plague, starvation or a major Cro-Magnon ass kicking.
Just imagine the guy squatting there pinching that loaf, imagine what he would think if he knew that 50,000 years later people would be interested in his poop.
No clue there at all.
Yeah, because only bears are smart enough to exploit all available food sources - hunting is so much easier.
And I didn't notice, but did they find some genetic marker to specifically link the poop to neanderthals? Just because they found neanderthal remains doesn't mean modern humans didn't use the same rock shelter at a later time.
Nope, never noticed that...I’ll research it though
We wonder who first tried artichoke.
People have been known to eat shoes, tree bark and grass during famines. I imagine most would be surprised at what they’d consider eating if they’d been without food long enough.
The really interesting cases are the foods that used to be all but inedible, but aren’t now. For example who was it that thought that the banana might be a good candidate for selective gardening? The original “banana” is tiny, full of seeds, and just about inedibly bitter. Ditto citrus, which also used to be small, tough, full of seeds, and horribly sour.
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