Amavano le spezie

Hunter-gatherers had a taste for spice

Le microanalisi di fitoliti rinvenuti nei contenitori usati nel periodo di transizione tra 'Cacciatori-Raccoglitori ' e 'Agricoltori' ha permesso di conoscere un po' meglio i nostri progenitori: aggiungevano alla loro dieta sapori forti di origine vegetale (ma di nessuna utilità nutrizionale) solo per il piacere del palato. Quindi, la ricerca di piante preesistette alla nascita dell'agricoltura di necessità, nata per produrre il cibo.

Our early ancestors had a taste for spicy food, new research led by the University of York has revealed.

Exterior shard deposit found at Neustadt [Credit: © University of York]

Archaeologists at York, working with colleagues in Denmark, Germany and Spain, have found evidence of the use of spices in cuisine at the transition to agriculture. The researchers discovered traces of garlic mustard on the charred remains of pottery dating back nearly 7,000 years.

The silicate remains of garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) along with animal and fish residues were discovered through microfossil analysis of carbonised food deposits from pots found at sites in Denmark and Germany. The pottery dated from the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition from hunter-gathering to agriculture.

Previously scientists have analysed starches which survive well in carbonised and non-carbonised residues to test for the use of spices in prehistoric cooking. But the new research, which is reported in PLOS ONE, suggests that the recovery of phytoliths -- silicate deposits from plants -- offers the additional possibility to identify leafy or woody seed material used as spices, not detectable using starch analysis. Phytoliths charred by cooking are more resilient to destruction.

Early contexts from which spices have been recovered, with photomicrographs of globular sinuate phytoliths recovered from the pottery styles illustrated [Credit: Saul H, Madella M, Fischer A, Glykou A, Hartz S, et al. (2013) Phytoliths in Pottery Reveal the Use of Spice in European Prehistoric Cuisine. PLoS ONE 8(8): e70583. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0070583]

Lead researcher Dr Hayley Saul, of the BioArCH research centre at at the University of York, said: "The traditional view is that early Neolithic and pre-Neolithic uses of plants, and the reasons for their cultivation, were primarily driven by energy requirements rather than flavour. As garlic mustard has a strong flavour but little nutritional value, and the phytoliths are found in pots with terrestrial and marine animal residues, our findings are the first direct evidence for the spicing of food in European prehistoric cuisine.

"Our evidence suggests a much greater antiquity to the spicing of foods in this region than is evident from the macrofossil record, and challenges the view that plants were exploited by hunter-gatherers and early agriculturalists solely for energy requirements, rather than taste."

Source: University of York [August 22, 2013]

Migrati dall'Africa: nuove prove.

New evidence shows how early humans migrated into Europe.

Humans originated in Africa. But what route did they take as they began to disperse around the world 60,000 years ago? A new professor at the University of Huddersfield has played a key role in finding the answer to one of the most fundamental questions in the history of humankind.

Spatial frequency distribution of haplogroups I and W and the sub-clades I1a and W6. Note that different frequency scales (%) were used in the maps. The dots in the lower map indicate the geographic location of the population samples included in the survey (Table S3 in File S1) [Credit: Anna Olivieri et al. Mitogenomes from Two Uncommon Haplogroups Mark Late Glacial/Postglacial Expansions from the Near East and Neolithic Dispersals within Europe. PLoS ONE, 2013; 8 (7): e70492 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0070492]

Professor Richards, who moved to Huddersfield from the University of Leeds, is a pioneer in the field -- one of just two professors of archaeogenetics in the world. He uses DNA evidence to study human origins, comparing data from modern samples across the world and occasionally to that which can be obtained from ancient sources such as skeletal remains and fossilised teeth. It leads to a vivid picture of the migration patterns of humankind and the origins of civilisation.

The article in PLoS ONE provides new evidence to indicate that early humans migrated into Europe after the Last Glacial Maximum but before Neolithic times, giving us a clearer picture of how early humans were developing at this time.

Professor Richards spent ten years as a researcher at Oxford University before first coming to the University of Huddersfield for a lecturing post in 2000. He then moved to Leeds, where he was awarded his professorship, before returning to Huddersfield, where he is currently equipping archaeogenetics research facilities. He is joined by his colleagues Dr Maria Pala, Dr Paul Brotherton and Dr Martin Carr.

One laboratory is being set up for the main molecular biology work and a separate lab built for the analysis of ancient DNA. There must be no risk of the evidence being cross-contaminated. "It's like forensics but even more so. It has to be in another building, segregated from the rest of the work we do here," said Professor Richards.

Postgraduates will be recruited to study archaeogenetics at Huddersfield -- to join an expanding field of research that aims to establish the history of the dispersal of human populations around the world.

Source: University of Huddersfield [August 12, 2013]

Confutate le date dell'ingresso in Asia dell'Uomo

New archaeogenetic research refutes previous dating of modern humans in Asia

When did modern humans settle in Asia and what route did they take from mankind's African homeland? A University of Huddersfield professor has helped to provide answers to both questions. But he has also had to settle a controversy.

Mitochondrial DNA evidence shows that anatomically modern humans dispersed from their Africa homeland via a “southern coastal route” from the Horn and through Arabia, about 60,000 years ago – after the Toba eruption [Credit: Dora Kemp]

Professor Martin Richards, who heads the University's Archaeogenetics Research Group, co-authors a new article in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. It refutes a recent theory, that there is archaeological evidence for the presence of modern humans in southern Asia before the super-eruption of the Mount Toba volcano in Sumatra.

One of the most catastrophic events since humans evolved, it happened approximately 74,000 years ago. In 2005, Professor Richards led research published in an article in the journal Science which used mitochondrial DNA evidence to show that anatomically modern humans dispersed from their Africa homeland via a "southern coastal route" from the Horn and through Arabia, about 60,000 years ago – after the Toba eruption.

However, a team of archaeologists excavating in India then claimed to have found evidence that modern humans were there before the eruption – possibly as early as 120,000 years ago, much earlier than Europe or the Near East were colonised. These findings, based on the discovery of stone tools below a layer of Toba ash, were published in Science in 2007.

Now Professor Richards – working principally with the archaeologist Professor Sir Paul Mellars, of the University of Cambridge and the University of Edinburgh, with a team including Huddersfield University's Dr Martin Carr and colleagues from York and Porto – has published his rebuttal of this theory. In doing so, they have been able to draw on a much greater body of DNA evidence that was available for the earlier article.

"One of the things we didn't have in 2005 was very much evidence from India in the way of mitochondrial sequences. Now, with a lot of people doing sequencing and depositing material in databases there are about 1,000 sequences from India," said Professor Richards.

By using the mitochondrial DNA of today's populations and working backwards, and by drawing on a wide variety of other evidence and research, the team was able to make much more precise estimates for the arrival of modern humans in India.

The evidence suggests dispersal from Africa and settlement in India no earlier than 60,000 years ago.

"We also argue that close archaeological similarities between African and Indian stone-tool technologies after 70,000 years ago, as well as features such as beads and engravings, suggest that the slightly later Indian material had an African source," states Professor Richards.

"There were people in India before the Toba eruption, because there are stone tools there, but they could have been Neanderthals – or some other pre-modern population," he adds.

"The replacement of the presumably archaic humans living previously in South Asia by modern people with these new technologies appears analogous to the replacement of Neanderthals by modern humans in Europe and western Asia 50-40,000 years ago." 

Source: University of Huddersfield [June 11, 2013]