The discovery of archaeological remains at Gruta da Figueira Brava in Portugal by researchers has actually challenged the concept that early contemporary human beings usage of marine foods provided them with a cognitive benefit. The findings suggest that Neanderthals were collecting and consuming shellfish, such as brown crabs, and they liked larger specimens that they prepared over fire. This evidence refutes the previous theory and sheds new light on the dietary routines of Neanderthals.
90,000 years earlier, Neanderthals based in Portugal harvested and roasted brown crabs.
Researchers studying historical remains at Gruta da Figueira Brava, Portugal, discovered that Neanderthals were gathering shellfish to consume– including brown crabs, where they chose larger specimens and cooked them in fires. Archeologists say this disproves the idea that eating marine foods gave early modern human beings brains the competitive benefit.
In a cave just south of Lisbon, archeological deposits conceal a Paleolithic supper menu. In addition to stone tools and charcoal, the site of Gruta de Figueira Brava includes rich deposits of shells and bones with much to tell us about the Neanderthals that lived there– particularly about their meals. A study published in Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology shows that 90,000 years ago, these Neanderthals were cooking and eating crabs.
The findings show that Neanderthals were taking in and gathering shellfish, such as brown crabs, and they had a choice for bigger specimens that they prepared over fire. A research study published in Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology reveals that 90,000 years ago, these Neanderthals were eating and cooking crabs.
” At the end of the Last Interglacial, Neanderthals regularly gathered big brown crabs,” stated Dr. Mariana Nabais of the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution (IPHES-CERCA), lead author of the research study. “They were taking them in swimming pools of the neighboring rocky coast, targeting adult animals with a typical carapace width of 16cm. The animals were brought whole to the cavern, where they were roasted on coals and after that consumed.”
Capturing crabs in Paleolithic Portugal
A wide array of shellfish remains were discovered in the archeological remains Nabais and her coworkers studied, but the shellfish in the undisturbed Paleolithic deposits are extremely represented by brown crabs. Their size was approximated by computing the size of the carapace relative to the crabs pincers, which maintain much better than other parts of the crab, so are more likely to make it through to be discovered by researchers. The archeologists examined the breakage on the shells, looked for butchery or percussion marks, and identified whether the crabs had been exposed to high heat.
Nabais and her coworkers discovered that the crabs were primarily big adults which would yield about 200g of meat. By studying the patterns of damage on the claws and shells, they dismissed the participation of other predators: there were no predator or rodent marks, and the patterns of damage didnt show predation by birds. Crabs are evasive, but Neanderthals could have harvested brown crabs of this size from low tide swimming pools in the summer season.
Accumulations of shellfish which are brought on by hominins are recognized by their association with stone tools and other hominin-made functions like hearths, surface modifications like the burns discovered on around 8% of the crab shells, and evidence of deliberate fractures; the fracture patterns on the crabs at Gruta de Figueira Brava suggested they d been burst for access to the meat. The expectation is likewise that bigger individuals will be overrepresented, as at Gruta de Figueira Brava, showing hominins selecting animals that use more meat.
Shellfish on the menu
The proof suggested to Nabais and her coworkers that Neanderthals werent just harvesting the crabs, they were roasting them. The black burns on the shells, compared to research studies of other mollusks heated up at specific temperature levels, revealed that the crabs were warmed at about 300-500 degrees Celsius, common for cooking.
” Our results add an extra nail to the coffin of the outdated concept that Neanderthals were primitive caveman who might barely scrape a living off scavenged big-game carcasses,” stated Nabais. “Together with the associated evidence for the large-scale usage of limpets, mussels, clams, and a series of fish, our information falsify the notion that marine foods played a significant function in the development of putatively superior cognitive capabilities amongst early modern-day human populations of sub-Saharan Africa.”
The authors warned that it was impossible to understand why Neanderthals picked to gather crabs or whether they attached any significance to consuming crabs, but whatever their factors consuming the crabs would have used significant nutritional benefits.
” The idea of the Neanderthals as top-level predators living off large herbivores of the steppe-tundra is extremely biased,” said Nabais. “Such views might well apply to some degree to the Neanderthal populations of Ice Age Europes periglacial belt, but not to those living in the southern peninsulas– and these southern peninsulas are where most of the continents human beings lived all through the Paleolithic, in the past, throughout and after the Neanderthals.”
Referral: “The exploitation of crabs by Last Interglacial Iberian Neanderthals: The evidence from Gruta da Figueira Brava (Portugal)” by Mariana Nabais, Catherine Dupont and João Zilhão, 7 February 2023, Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology.DOI: 10.3389/ fearc.2023.1097815.
” At the end of the Last Interglacial, Neanderthals frequently collected large brown crabs,” stated Dr. Mariana Nabais of the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution (IPHES-CERCA), lead author of the study. Their size was approximated by determining the size of the carapace relative to the crabs pincers, which preserve better than other parts of the crab, so are more likely to survive to be found by researchers. Crabs are incredibly elusive, but Neanderthals might have collected brown crabs of this size from low tide swimming pools in the summer.
