Neolithic by Susan McCarter
Author:Susan McCarter [McCarter, Susan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00
Diet
Paleopathologists also study bones and teeth for clues about exactly what Neolithic people ate. Bones are particularly useful because bone collagen (a fibrous tissue that connects the cells) retains a precise record of a person’s diet. Plant species metabolize carbon isotopes in different ratios, and the ratios are stored in the collagen. Because most Neolithic diets were low in variety and largely plant-based, analyzing skeletal collagen can reveal which plants were eaten, and also identify radical changes in a population’s diet. For example, isotope analysis was used to verify the date when North Americans began eating maize. Teeth don’t provide the same kind of direct information about diet, but they provide clues. When people process grain using soft, coarse grinders, tiny grits fall into the flour and get cooked along with it. People who eat grit-filled food eventually wear down the chewing surfaces of their teeth, sometimes all the way to the roots, so the badly worn teeth found at many Neolithic sites are evidence of a diet high in ground grains. Another indication of the Neolithic dependence on cereals is the universal appearance of caries (popularly referred to as cavities or tooth decay). Caused by acids that form in the mouth and dissolve tooth enamel, caries are directly linked to high-carbohydrate diets. (They’re rarely seen in pre-farming populations: hunter-gatherers may not have perfect teeth, but they don’t have cavities.) Caries are so clearly tied to the advent of farming – about a third of Neolithic farmers in Iran and Iraq had caries14 – that some archaeologists consider tooth decay as proof of agriculture, even when there’s no other physical evidence.15
Artifacts, especially tools, can also provide information about diet. The most basic measure is simply shape: people use arrows and spears to hunt, and hoes and adzes to clear fields, but even all-purpose shapes like blades and scrapers contain important clues. Because different materials leave distinctive marks on the working edges of chipped stone tools, microscopic examination can identify the last task a tool was used for. Other evidence, like blood, is visible with the naked eye. The most easily recognized residue is “sickle sheen,” a high gloss that looks like a layer of clear nail polish. When it was first discovered, archaeologists assumed it was caused by silica transferred from grass stems to the tools during the harvest (hence its name), and that it was a clear indication of cultivation or domestication. But microscopic analysis has proved that scraping or cutting clay and other mineral-rich substances creates a similarly high gloss,16 so while sickle sheen sometimes provides useful information about what people ate, it doesn’t automatically point to a high-cereal diet.
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