Our ancestors were roasting and eating plant starches, such as those from tubers and rhizomes, as early as 120,000 years ago, new research has found.
“Starch diet isn’t something that happens when westarted farming, but rather, is as old as humans themselves,” said leadauthor Cynthia Larbey from the University of Cambridge.
Farming in Africa only started in the last 10,000 years ofhuman existence.
The research, published in the Journal of Human Evolution,is based on discoveries made at the Klasies River Cave in South Africa wherecharred food remains from hearths were found.
The study shows that “early human beings followed abalanced diet and that they were ecological geniuses, able to exploit theirenvironments intelligently for suitable foods and perhaps medicines”, saidSarah Wurz, Professor at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg,South Africa.
The results showed that by combining cooked roots and tubersas a staple with protein and fats from shellfish, fish, small and large fauna,these communities were able to optimally adapt to their environment, indicatinggreat ecological intelligence as early as 120,000 years ago.”Evidence from Klasies River, where severalhuman skull fragments and two maxillary fragments dating 120,000 years agooccur, show that humans living in that time period looked like modern humans oftoday. However, they were somewhat more robust,” Wurz added.