Neanderthal medics? Evidence for food, cooking, and medicinal plants entrapped in dental calculus

Karen Hardy; Stephen Buckley; Matthew J. Collins; Almudena Estalrrich; Don Brothwell; Les Copeland; Antonio García-Tabernero; Samuel García-Vargas; Marco De La Rasilla; Carles Lalueza-Fox; Rosa Huguet; Markus Bastir; David Santamaría; Marco Madella; Julie Wilson; Ángel Fernández Cortés; Antonio Rosas

doi:10.1007/s00114-012-0942-0

Neanderthal medics? Evidence for food, cooking, and medicinal plants entrapped in dental calculus

Karen Hardy^*, Stephen Buckley, Matthew J. Collins, Almudena Estalrrich, Don Brothwell, Les Copeland, Antonio García-Tabernero, Samuel García-Vargas, Marco De La Rasilla, Carles Lalueza-Fox, Rosa Huguet, Markus Bastir, David Santamaría, Marco Madella, Julie Wilson, Ángel Fernández Cortés, Antonio Rosas

^*Corresponding author for this work

200 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Neanderthals disappeared sometime between 30,000 and 24,000 years ago. Until recently, Neanderthals were understood to have been predominantly meat-eaters; however, a growing body of evidence suggests their diet also included plants. We present the results of a study, in which sequential thermal desorption-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (TD-GC-MS) and pyrolysis-gas chromatographymass spectrometry (Py-GC-MS) were combined with morphological analysis of plant microfossils, to identify material entrapped in dental calculus from five Neanderthal individuals from the north Spanish site of El Sidrón. Our results provide the first molecular evidence for inhalation of wood-fire smoke and bitumen or oil shale and ingestion of a range of cooked plant foods. We also offer the first evidence for the use of medicinal plants by a Neanderthal individual. The varied use of plants that we have identified suggests that the Neanderthal occupants of El Sidrón had a sophisticated knowledge of their natural surroundings which included the ability to select and use certain plants.

Original language	English
Journal	Naturwissenschaften
Volume	99
Issue number	8
Pages (from-to)	617-626
Number of pages	10
ISSN	0028-1042
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-012-0942-0
Publication status	Published - 1 Aug 2012

Keywords

Dental calculus
Diet
Neanderthals-El sidrón
Self-medication

Access to Document

10.1007/s00114-012-0942-0

Cite this

Hardy, K., Buckley, S., Collins, M. J., Estalrrich, A., Brothwell, D., Copeland, L., García-Tabernero, A., García-Vargas, S., De La Rasilla, M., Lalueza-Fox, C., Huguet, R., Bastir, M., Santamaría, D., Madella, M., Wilson, J., Cortés, Á. F., & Rosas, A. (2012). Neanderthal medics? Evidence for food, cooking, and medicinal plants entrapped in dental calculus. Naturwissenschaften, 99(8), 617-626. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-012-0942-0

Hardy, K, Buckley, S, Collins, MJ, Estalrrich, A, Brothwell, D, Copeland, L, García-Tabernero, A, García-Vargas, S, De La Rasilla, M, Lalueza-Fox, C, Huguet, R, Bastir, M, Santamaría, D, Madella, M, Wilson, J, Cortés, ÁF & Rosas, A 2012, 'Neanderthal medics? Evidence for food, cooking, and medicinal plants entrapped in dental calculus', Naturwissenschaften, vol. 99, no. 8, pp. 617-626. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-012-0942-0

@article{e73195dcd9b14ce69fee7faf926c1005,

title = "Neanderthal medics? Evidence for food, cooking, and medicinal plants entrapped in dental calculus",

abstract = "Neanderthals disappeared sometime between 30,000 and 24,000 years ago. Until recently, Neanderthals were understood to have been predominantly meat-eaters; however, a growing body of evidence suggests their diet also included plants. We present the results of a study, in which sequential thermal desorption-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (TD-GC-MS) and pyrolysis-gas chromatographymass spectrometry (Py-GC-MS) were combined with morphological analysis of plant microfossils, to identify material entrapped in dental calculus from five Neanderthal individuals from the north Spanish site of El Sidr{\'o}n. Our results provide the first molecular evidence for inhalation of wood-fire smoke and bitumen or oil shale and ingestion of a range of cooked plant foods. We also offer the first evidence for the use of medicinal plants by a Neanderthal individual. The varied use of plants that we have identified suggests that the Neanderthal occupants of El Sidr{\'o}n had a sophisticated knowledge of their natural surroundings which included the ability to select and use certain plants.",

keywords = "Dental calculus, Diet, Neanderthals-El sidr{\'o}n, Self-medication",

author = "Karen Hardy and Stephen Buckley and Collins, {Matthew J.} and Almudena Estalrrich and Don Brothwell and Les Copeland and Antonio Garc{\'i}a-Tabernero and Samuel Garc{\'i}a-Vargas and {De La Rasilla}, Marco and Carles Lalueza-Fox and Rosa Huguet and Markus Bastir and David Santamar{\'i}a and Marco Madella and Julie Wilson and Cort{\'e}s, {{\'A}ngel Fern{\'a}ndez} and Antonio Rosas",

year = "2012",

month = aug,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1007/s00114-012-0942-0",

language = "English",

volume = "99",

pages = "617--626",

journal = "Naturwissenschaften",

issn = "0028-1042",

publisher = "Springer",

number = "8",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Neanderthal medics? Evidence for food, cooking, and medicinal plants entrapped in dental calculus

AU - Hardy, Karen

AU - Buckley, Stephen

AU - Collins, Matthew J.

AU - Estalrrich, Almudena

AU - Brothwell, Don

AU - Copeland, Les

AU - García-Tabernero, Antonio

AU - García-Vargas, Samuel

AU - De La Rasilla, Marco

AU - Lalueza-Fox, Carles

AU - Huguet, Rosa

AU - Bastir, Markus

AU - Santamaría, David

AU - Madella, Marco

AU - Wilson, Julie

AU - Cortés, Ángel Fernández

AU - Rosas, Antonio

PY - 2012/8/1

Y1 - 2012/8/1

N2 - Neanderthals disappeared sometime between 30,000 and 24,000 years ago. Until recently, Neanderthals were understood to have been predominantly meat-eaters; however, a growing body of evidence suggests their diet also included plants. We present the results of a study, in which sequential thermal desorption-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (TD-GC-MS) and pyrolysis-gas chromatographymass spectrometry (Py-GC-MS) were combined with morphological analysis of plant microfossils, to identify material entrapped in dental calculus from five Neanderthal individuals from the north Spanish site of El Sidrón. Our results provide the first molecular evidence for inhalation of wood-fire smoke and bitumen or oil shale and ingestion of a range of cooked plant foods. We also offer the first evidence for the use of medicinal plants by a Neanderthal individual. The varied use of plants that we have identified suggests that the Neanderthal occupants of El Sidrón had a sophisticated knowledge of their natural surroundings which included the ability to select and use certain plants.

AB - Neanderthals disappeared sometime between 30,000 and 24,000 years ago. Until recently, Neanderthals were understood to have been predominantly meat-eaters; however, a growing body of evidence suggests their diet also included plants. We present the results of a study, in which sequential thermal desorption-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (TD-GC-MS) and pyrolysis-gas chromatographymass spectrometry (Py-GC-MS) were combined with morphological analysis of plant microfossils, to identify material entrapped in dental calculus from five Neanderthal individuals from the north Spanish site of El Sidrón. Our results provide the first molecular evidence for inhalation of wood-fire smoke and bitumen or oil shale and ingestion of a range of cooked plant foods. We also offer the first evidence for the use of medicinal plants by a Neanderthal individual. The varied use of plants that we have identified suggests that the Neanderthal occupants of El Sidrón had a sophisticated knowledge of their natural surroundings which included the ability to select and use certain plants.

KW - Dental calculus

KW - Diet

KW - Neanderthals-El sidrón

KW - Self-medication

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84866237045&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/s00114-012-0942-0

DO - 10.1007/s00114-012-0942-0

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 22806252

AN - SCOPUS:84866237045

SN - 0028-1042

VL - 99

SP - 617

EP - 626

JO - Naturwissenschaften

JF - Naturwissenschaften

IS - 8

ER -

Neanderthal medics? Evidence for food, cooking, and medicinal plants entrapped in dental calculus

Abstract

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this