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Israeli study reveals that early hominids from the Middle Pleistocene were already processing plant foods

January 7, 2025 , ,

The earliest hominids of the early Middle Pleistocene, 780.000 years ago, were already capable of processing a wide variety of starchy plant foods, although wild plants often require longer and more exhaustive techniques than meat before consumption.

Analysis of plant microremains preserved on eight percussion tools from the Gesher Benot Ya'aqov site (Israel) allowed the extraction and classification of more than 650 starch grains embedded in them, according to a study published in PNAS.

A team of researchers from the Bar-Ilan University detected starches from acorns, grass grains, water chestnuts, yellow water lily rhizomes, and legume seeds on tools such as anvils and hammers made of basalt.

The identified plants came from a variety of habitats, including a lake near the site and more distant highland areas, and their association with stone tools suggests that the microremains represent residues of plant food processing by hominins.

These results, the study notes, indicate “the advanced cognitive capabilities of our earliest ancestors, including their ability to collect plants from different distances and a variety of habitats and to process them mechanically using percussion tools.”

Despite their potential implications for hominin diet, cognition and behavior, plants have only rarely been considered drivers of human evolution, partly because they are less visible archaeologically, the authors note.

However, these findings suggest that carbohydrates extracted from wild plants played an important role in the diet at least 780.000 years ago, “They confirm the importance of plant foods in our evolutionary history and highlight the development of complex feeding-related behaviors.”

Agencies contributed to this Aurora article.

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