Hominins in Israel Processed a Wide Variety of Plants

RAMAT GAN, ISRAEL—Paleolithic hunter-gatherers living in northern Israel’s Hula Valley ate a diet rich in nuts, tubers, and starchy roots, according to a statement released by Bar-Ilan University. Traces of 780,000-year-old starches were detected on basalt tools unearthed on the shores of Hula Lake by Hadar Ahituv of Bar-Ilan University and Haifa University and his colleagues. The carbohydrates in these foods would have provided energy required by the early human brain, he explained. The study determined that the tools were used to prepare acorns, cereals, legumes, and aquatic plants such as yellow water lily and water chestnut. “We now understand that early hominids gathered a wide variety of plants year-round, which they processed using tools made from basalt,” he explained. The diversity of the plants in the diet and the use of tools to prepare them also reflect a high level of cooperation, social structure, and knowledge of aquatic and terrestrial environments, Ahituv added. To read about Paleolithic artists who made engravings and paintings deep inside a Spanish cave, go to "Paleo Palette."