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发帖数: 1034 | 1 By Lee Mathews Jun. 27, 2014 7:32 am
5000-year-old-poop
A team of archaeologists in Spain have really stepped in it this time, but
that’s a good thing. They’ve uncovered what is believed to be the oldest
fossilized human poo. Five whole piles of it.
The Neanderthal coprolites (a generic but shapely specimen is pictured above
) are around 50,000 years old, which lines up nicely with the age of the dig
site at El Salt in southeastern Spain. It’s known to have been occupied by
Neanderthals for thousands of years.
So why are scientists so excited about finding fossilized Neanderthal poo?
Because it provides valuable insight into their daily diets.
Geoarchaechaeologist Ainara Sistiaga identified chemical signatures in the
coprolites discovered at El Salt. She wasn’t able to identify specific
foods, but noted that there’s evidence of various berries, nuts, and tubers.
Scientists were already fairly certain that Neanderthals weren’t just
carnivorous creatures. Fossilized plant remains have been found in several
dig sites before, though their mere presence wasn’t enough to confirm that
they were actually being eaten. Microscopic fossils of plant matter embedded
in the calculus from ancient teeth seemed to indicate that Neanderthals ate
plenty of vegetables, seeds, grains, and fruits.
But did they? Technically it was still possible that they were just chewing
on those things, and that’s what some skeptics thought may have been going
on. Like us, Neanderthals tended to use their teeth as tools — not always
for just eating.
Now that evidence of plants from the other end of the system has been found
, however, it’s pretty clear that our extinct ancestors were ingesting
plant matter with some regularity. Their diets were similar to ours, they
used tools, they even intentionally buried their dead. I suppose none of
that is really surprising when you consider that Neanderthal DNA is only 0.
12% different from our own. |
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