麻豆淫院

The hunting and gathering activities of early humans required a high-calorie diet consisting of a variety of macronutrients鈥攑rotein, carbohydrates, and fat. While hunting big-game animals鈥攍ike deer, horses and animals in the bovine family鈥攑rovided a large supply of calories all at once, much of these calories came in the form of protein. However, human and Neanderthal bodies have a limit on the amount of protein intake that the liver can handle.

Scientists estimate that protein intake above around 1,200 calories per day for Neanderthals would have led to a form of protein poisoning, referred to as "rabbit starvation," which could be fatal. Since caloric requirements for early hunter-gatherers like Neanderthals would have been much higher than 1,200 calories per day, they had to find ways to increase their fat and carbohydrate intake in order to survive. In winter and early spring, carbohydrate-rich plants were harder to find, and fat would have been an important source of survival food.

New archaeological research, in Science Advances, provides evidence that Neanderthals were rendering fat from crushed animal bones around 125,000 years ago in the Neumark-Nord region in Germany. This is the first evidence showing that Neanderthals practiced this more sophisticated kind of food processing.

Prior to this finding, the of this kind of fat rendering dated back to only 28,000 years ago, thousands of years after Neanderthals disappeared from the fossil record.

Researchers at the site found evidence that at least 172 animals were processed at what they are calling a "fat factory." The bones of mostly larger animals were crushed into small pieces and showed evidence of heating. Most of the bones found in the processing areas were fat-rich bones, such as femurs and jaw bones.

Bones with lower fat concentrations, like those from feet, were more scarce. The study authors believe that the Neanderthals boiled the bones to release nutritious fats and may have skimmed them off the top for later use.

While the scientists found no preserved containers or direct evidence that the bone fragments were boiled, they note that high concentrations of the heated bone fragments were found near charcoal and a water source. They also mention the possibility that organic perishable containers, made out of deer skin or birch bark, might have been used to process food.

It is still unclear how long the site was used, or whether bones had been saved in advance for later processing, but the evidence found at this site still provides some eye-opening insights into the sophistication of Neanderthal adaptability and survival methods. More evidence is needed to determine when these "fat factories" became common or whether this was a more isolated event.