The ancient people were raw
Last reviewed: 16.10.2021
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In our time, people know how to cook food in all sorts of ways - and this is considered an art. For example, meat can be baked, fried, cooked, stewed - and all these methods need fire.
Scientists from the University of York conducted a long and painstaking archaeological study, the results of which showed that primitive people who lived on Earth more than a million years ago did not process food in a thermal way.
Specialists examined the teeth of one of the ancient people - the Pleistocene hominid. More precisely, it was investigated its plaque on the teeth. For the experiment, the remains of an ancient civilization, discovered inside the cave near the mountain ridge Atapuerca in the northern region of Spain, were attracted.
It turned out with absolute probability that people of this time period did not use fire to process and prepare food. Their food - in particular, meat and fish - was consumed only in raw form.
The full results of the study were published in the German periodical Naturwissenschaften. The essence of the experiment was that experts removed the elements of the plaque from the dental remains and conducted a detailed analysis of its smallest particles. The plaque, according to the findings, consisted of remains of animal tissues, parts of insects, needle pollen and starch granules. At the same time, there were no signs of heat treatment of food consumed.
According to the results of the survey, archaeologists made the following conclusion. At a time when the most ancient people moved from the African continent and inhabited the current European territory (which was about 1.2 million years ago), they still did not know about the use of fire. Fire appeared in people's lives a little later, and before that their diet consisted of raw meat and fish, raw plant products, insects.
It is possible that the ancient people not only did not know how to use fire, but also feared it. After all, fire, in addition to its undeniable benefits - light, warmth and protection - also has a tremendous destructive power. The man everywhere saw the effects of forest fires, lightning strikes, lava eruptions, so for many thousands of years the fire was considered to be only a source of destruction.
Only by taming the "fiery dragon", the ancient representatives of civilization realized what advantages they were deprived of. Since it was difficult to obtain fire at first, it was guarded and supported round the clock, not allowing its extinction. To lose the source of fire for many people was associated with death - to such a degree people took fire in their lives.
The first scientific evidence for the processing of food by fire was found in remains, the age of which is about 800 thousand years. It was from this period that the active evolution of man began: with the advent of fire, people not only learned how to cook food, but also used it for other domestic needs. For example, fire began to process materials (iron, copper, stone), heat, burn clay for dishes, scare away wild animals, etc.
At present it is difficult to imagine a normal life without sources of fire, heat and light. And to eat raw meat for food is generally considered nonsense. Nevertheless, as the study confirms, our ancestors ate this way.