Clues at ancient lake site reveal earliest known cooked meal | CNN (2024)

Clues at ancient lake site reveal earliest known cooked meal | CNN (1)

An illustration depicts hominins cooking Luciobarbus longiceps, a large carp-like fish, on the shores of Lake Hula, an ancient site in what's now Israel. (Illustration by Ella Maru)

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Scientists have found the earliest known evidence of cooking at an archaeological site in Israel.

The shift from eating raw to cooked food was a dramatic turning point in human evolution, and the discovery has suggested prehistoric humans were able to deliberately make fires to cook food at least 780,000 years ago.

The detailed study of fish teeth unearthed at the Gesher Benot Ya’aqov site, situated on the edge of the ancient lake Hula, revealed that some of our early ancestors — most likely hom*o erectus — were able to cook fish, said study author Dr. Irit Zohar, a researcher at Tel Aviv University’s Steinhardt Museum of Natural History.

The lakeside dwellers feasted on a large freshwater species, according to Zohar, who is also a curator of the Beit Margolin Biological Collections at Oranim Academic College.

No human remains had been found at the site, but the stone tools matched those found at hom*o erectus sites across Africa, Zohar said. She said the lake would have been shallow, and it might have been easy to catch large fish like the extinct Luciobarbus longicep, which could grow up to 6.5 feet (2 meters), by hand.

“This is an incredibly important discovery,” said archaeological geochemist Dr. Bethan Linscott, who wasn’t involved in the study.

“Evidence for the controlled use of fire in the (early Stone Age) … is ephemeral at best, and as such, the evidence of anthropogenically (because of human activity) accumulated and cooked fish remains described here will undoubtedly have a wide impact on the research community,” said Linscott, who is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.

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The shift to eating cooked meals meant humans expended less energy on the intensive work of searching for and digesting fresh, raw food, freeing up more time in which to develop new social and behavioral systems.

“Diet has had a big impact on the evolution of our species. It has been suggested that the consumption of meat in particular contributed to the increase in relative brain size of our early hom*o ancestors — but pathogenic bacteria make the consumption of uncooked meat a risky business,” Linscott said.

“Cooking, however, kills bacteria and increases the energetic value of meat — thereby creating a new, reliable food source for early hominins. Understanding when this happened is therefore a topic of great interest, because it might help to explain why our hominin ancestors evolved the way that they did.”

The research was published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution on Monday.

Clues at ancient lake site reveal earliest known cooked meal | CNN (3)

The Israeli research team includes: (from left) Dr. Irit Zohar, Dr. Marion Prévost, Professor Naama Goren-Inbar, Dr. Guy Sisma-Ventura, Professor Nira Alperson-Afil, Professor Israel Hershkovitz.

Does burning equal cooking?

Previous research by Zohar, who has worked at the site for 16 years, had found that the layers of sediment where stone tools were found — suggesting human occupation — were associated with a high number of fish teeth from two particular species (Luciobarbus longiceps and Carasobarbus canis) that were part of the carp family but now extinct.

There were, however, very few fish bones, which unlike teeth soften under high temperatures and easily decay. Other work by study coauthor Nira Alperson-Afil, professor in the department of Israel studies and archaeology at Bar-Ilan University, had identified traces of hearths — some of the earliest outside Africa.

Artist 's impression of Tebo1. The individual had their lower left leg amputated as a child and survived into early adulthood in an artistic community 31,000 years ago in Borneo. Credit: Jose Garcia (Garciartist) and Griffith University. (Dr Tim Maloney, Griffith University) Jose Garcia/Griffith University Related article Stone Age humans had unexpectedly advanced medical knowledge, new discovery suggests

To determine whether the prehistoric inhabitants of the site actually cooked fish there and didn’t just discard fish remains in a fire, the researchers identified changes in the size of tooth enamel crystals, which respond differently to changes in temperature.

In the experiments, Zohar and collaborator Dr. Jens Najorka, who is X-ray lab manager at the Natural History Museum in London, analyzed 56 teeth belonging to prehistoric and freshwater fish that allowed them to identify the changes caused by cooking at low versus high temperatures. The results suggested the fish were cooked at temperatures between 392 and 932 degrees Fahrenheit (200 and 500 degrees Celsius).

Clues at ancient lake site reveal earliest known cooked meal | CNN (5)

A 3D reconstruction of the skull from the fish species Luciobarbus longiceps shows the location of the teeth.

“We do not know exactly how the fish were cooked but given the lack of evidence of exposure to high temperatures, it is clear that they were not cooked directly in fire and were not thrown into a fire as waste or as material for burning,” Najorka said in a news release.

The team was also able to determine that fish were a regular part of the diet — they weren’t just a seasonal treat or a last resort when other sources of food were scarce. The researchers did this by looking at the geochemical composition of oxygen and carbon isotopes in the enamel of the teeth to figure out during which season the fish died. The results suggested that they were cooked and eaten year round.

Early migration

hom*o erectus was the first hominin to migrate outside Africa, and the research suggested ancient Lake Hula might have been a key staging post on the route of these early migrations.

Exactly when humans first began cooking fish — or any other type of food — is unknown, and there’s no consensus on when ancient hominins first developed the ability to start fires and cook. Until this study, the earliest hard evidence of the use of fire to cook was by Neanderthals and hom*o sapiens, who cooked starchy roots in what’s now South Africa about 170,000 years ago.

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The cumulative weight of the evidence put forward in the study suggested the fish was cooked, said John McNabb, a professor at the Centre for the Archaeology of Human Origins at the University of Southampton’s department of archaeology. He was not involved in the study.

“When and where deliberately set and controlled fire first appeared, and when we began to cook our food, are two of the really big questions that researchers into human origins have long sought answers for,” he said via email.

“Fire is not just about safety and protection. It prolongs the working day and provides a really important mechanism for social bonding — we literally built our societies around our fires. Cooking opens up new dietary opportunities and brings new food stuffs on-line, as well as increasing the nutritious potential of what we eat. Was cooking the reason hom*o erectus was able to move into strange new territories.”

Clues at ancient lake site reveal earliest known cooked meal | CNN (2024)

FAQs

Clues at ancient lake site reveal earliest known cooked meal | CNN? ›

Scientists have found the earliest known evidence of cooking at an archaeological site in Israel. The shift from eating raw to cooked food was a dramatic turning point in human evolution, and the discovery has suggested prehistoric humans were able to deliberately make fires to cook food at least 780,000 years ago.

What is the evidence of the first cooked meal? ›

Summary: The remains of a huge carp fish mark the earliest signs of cooking by prehistoric human to 780,000 years ago, predating the available data by some 600,000 years, according to researchers.

Where did the earliest evidence of cooking in hominins come from? ›

Scientists have discovered the earliest evidence of humans cooking food through the controlled use of fire, dating to almost 800,000 years ago. An archeological site in Israel contains fish remains that, on closer examination, show clear signs of having been cooked.

What was the first food ever cooked? ›

A recent study found what could be the earliest known evidence of ancient cooking: the leftovers of a fish dinner from 780,000 years ago. Cooking helped change our ancestors. It helped fuel our evolution and gave us bigger brains.

How did early man come to know that food could be cooked? ›

Some scientists estimate our early human cousins may have been using fire to cook their food almost 2 million years ago, long before hom*o sapiens showed up. And a recent study found what could be the earliest known evidence of this rudimentary cooking: the leftovers of a roasted carp dinner from 780,000 years ago.

What was the first meal on earth? ›

One of the oldest meals ever eaten may have been discovered in a fossil over half a billion years old. A mollusc-like animal known as Kimberella appears to have enjoyed a meal of green algae and bacteria shortly before its death 558 million years ago.

What was the first food to come out? ›

Here is the answer for you! Bread is considered to be first prepared probably some 30000+ years back and is one of the very first foods made by mankind.

What is the earliest evidence for meat eating in early hominins? ›

The earliest well-accepted evidence for this novel dietary behavior comes from about 2.6 Ma at the site of Gona, Ethiopia (Domínguez-Rodrigo et al.

What is the earliest known way humans obtained food? ›

Hunting and gathering: The first way humans obtained food. Nomadic groups around the world depended on migratory animals, wild fruit, berries, and roots for sustenance.

What was evidence of the earliest hominins found? ›

The oldest hominins currently known are Sahelanthropus tchadensis from Chad (Brunet et al. 2005) and Orrorin tugenensis from Kenya (Senut et al. 2001). Sahelanthropus, dated to between 6 and 7 mya, is known from a largely complete skull and some other fragmentary remains.

What is the oldest food ever eaten? ›

Honey and alcohols, among others, have been one of the oldest found edible foods. For example, ancient Egyptian honey has been found and consumed.

What is the oldest dish? ›

Nettle Pudding

Originating in 6000 BCE, England; it is the oldest dish of the world that's rich in nutrients. Nettle pudding is made with stinging nettles (wild leafy plant), breadcrumbs, suet, onions, and other herbs and spices.

What is the oldest cooking method in the world? ›

Archaeological evidence from 300,000 years ago, in the form of ancient hearths, earth ovens, burnt animal bones, and flint, are found across Europe and the Middle East. The oldest evidence (via heated fish teeth from a deep cave) of controlled use of fire to cook food by archaic humans was dated to ~780,000 years ago.

How did archaeologists know that early hominids cooked their food? ›

The detailed study of fish teeth unearthed at the Gesher Benot Ya'aqov site, situated on the edge of the ancient lake Hula, revealed that some of our early ancestors — most likely hom*o erectus — were able to cook fish, said study author Dr.

How did the earliest humans find sources of food? ›

Until agriculture was developed around 10,000 years ago, all humans got their food by hunting, gathering, and fishing.

How was the meal he cooked first time? ›

Hari lied to Anil that he knows how to cook food but when on the first night he cooked the food, it tasted terrible. It was so terrible that Anil did not eat food and instead asked hari to leave his home but again he was able to amuse Anil.

What is the first evidence of meat eating? ›

Only those fossilized bones with butchery marks can confidently be tied to hominin diet (Blumenschine & Pobiner 2006). The earliest well-accepted evidence for this novel dietary behavior comes from about 2.6 Ma at the site of Gona, Ethiopia (Domínguez-Rodrigo et al. 2005).

Who was the first person to cook a meal? ›

A new study, published in Nature Ecology and Evolution , suggests that early humans first cooked food around 780,000 years ago. Before now, the earliest evidence of cooked food was around 170,000 years ago, with early hom*o sapiens and Neanderthals using fire to cook vegetables and meat.

What is the first dish of a meal? ›

An entrée (/ˈɒ̃treɪ/, US also /ɒnˈtreɪ/; French: [ɑ̃tʁe]), in modern French table service and that of much of the English-speaking world, is a dish served before the main course of a meal.

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