The use of animal fat for the human diet could have begun long before what was thought, according to a study, which has found a kind of ‘factory’ used by the Neanderthals, 125,000 years ago, to process bone fat of its prey in a German site.
Until now, science considered that the use of animal fat began in the upper Paleolithic, but it would have been quite before according to the discovery described this Thursday in the journal Science Advances, whose authors are the Spanish scientist Alejandro García-Moreno, affiliated with the Museum of Prehistory and Archeology of Cantabria (MUPAC).
The ability to obtain additional calories by collection of bone marrow and fat has played a fundamental role in the evolution of humanity, since a better diet was what helped human beings live longer already reproduce better.
The hunters-gatherers used huge amounts of energy to hunt, so they sought ways to preserve the valuable bone fat of their prey to feed.
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Neanderthals created the first ‘fat factories’ 125,000 years ago
Until now, most of the indications of use of animal lipids had been found in the upper Paleolithic deposits, about 28,000 years ago, long after the extinction of the Neanderthals.
However, the analysis of remains of the archaeological site of Neumark-Nord (near the city of Halle, Germany), has evidenced that there was processed fat of at least 172 large mammals (horses, deer and bovids) by a population of Neanderthals that inhabited the area 125,000 years ago.
His bodies (partial) were transported to this place for the extraction of the nutrients from their bones, particularly bone fat.
The data, together with more than 16,500 flint artifacts and other stone objects that indicate the use of fire, showed that the Neanderthals transported the bodies of some of the animals hunted to this area, of about 50 square meters, to fracture the bones and obtain nutrients from them, especially fat.
This discovery shows “a considerable investment of time and effort on the part of the occupants of the deposit in order to recover the valuable lipids of their prey to feed,” conclude the authors.
With EFE information.
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