Food in the Stone Age  

Surprising as it may seem, we know quite a lot about the food which prehistoric
people ate. Much of our information comes simply from archaeological finds and
also from just studying the landscape with its flora and fauna. Now and again
archaeologists discover concrete evidence about food preparation and sometimes
even the remains of foodstuffs. The remains of animals, plants and charcoal also
provide us with information about the preparation and consumption of foodstuffs.
Clues can also be found in ethnographic research about the food eaten by people
in other similar cultures.

Some evidence has come from research into the carbonised remains of meals
found in pots. We know for certain that prehistoric people used herbs, but it is
difficult to establish whether these were specially cultivated or gathered in the wild
and used against specific ailments and diseases. Many herbs and plants (some of
them now regarded as weeds) may have been eaten as vegetables. Trees and
shrubs were another source of food and you will find several other articles on this
subject on our website.

Caveman diet or Palaeolithic diet

The terms ‘caveman diet’ and ‘Palaeolithic diet’ are frequently used today, but
what do they actually mean? They refer back to a time before farmers first
appeared, a time when consequently there was no grain, no milk products and no
processed food. People had to eat what they could hunt or gather. Researchers
Thijs van Kolfschoten and John Speth (KEULEMANS, 2016) believe that many of
the recipes used in the Early and Middle Stone Age would not suit us today.
According to Speth there is a limit to the quantity of animal protein which a person
can eat (35 per cent). The liver cannot absorb and process quickly enough the
nitrogen compounds which are released. Recipes from Indans and the Inuit provide
an insight into what prehistoric people might have eaten: pemmican (a mixture of
fat, meat and berries), fat and fermented fish or meat. Fermenting (in other words
allowing food to rot) would have been a common way for hunter-gatherers to
preserve food. It involved burying the fish or meat in the ground and then waiting.
Fermenting has the same effect as cooking and it preserves the food at the same
time. Archaeological proof for the fermentation of food is difficult to find, but in the
north of America there are indications that meat may have been fermented under
water during the last ice age. Interesting research has been carried out by Dan
Fisher (POBOJEWSKI 1995) using horsemeat under water.

People think of prehistoric people as hunters but gathering food was also very
important for them, perhaps even more important. Women may have collected
fungi, tubers, plants, small rodents, birds and insects. There are many kinds of
edible ants, grasshoppers, beetles, termites, cicadas, dragonflies or moths (dead
or alive). Gathering these provided sufficient for daily food. Hunting, which was
often man’s work, would not always have been successful. Present-day evidence
from the Hadza tribe in Tanzania shows that 97 per cent of the time the men
return home with nothing, and among the San or Bushman in the Kalahari the
figure is around 70 per cent. This can be explained by the fact that you do not only
need good weapons but you also have to find the animals, get close enough to
them, and then recover the animal after you’ve killed it. The argument that
hunting was so important would appear to come from the need for a particular
group to demonstrate its identity and status (KEULEMANS 2016).

One other thing that prehistoric people would have eaten was human flesh. Signs
of cannibalism have been found in Gough’s Cave in Somerset, England (BELLO
2015).

Early Stone Age

Of all periods in prehistory, we know the least about food in the Early Stone Age.
As we said earlier, fat was more important than meat. Finds from the last ice age
are very rare. Excavations at Schöningen in Germany can be dated to the Early
Stone Age (about 300,000 years ago) and these have produced many shattered
bones – the marrow was important (KEULEMANS 2016). From an analysis of food
remains found between the teeth of Neanderthal man it appears that they ate
vegetables and flowers, including water-lilies (HENRY 2010). Neanderthal faeces
also show that they ate carrots, nuts and vegetables (SISTIAGA 2014). It is
estimated that plants formed 20% of the Neanderthals’ diet, the same as that of
other people in the Stone Age. As far as meat was concerned, they ate mainly
plant-eating animals such as mammoth and rhinoceros (NAITO 2016).

We know a little more about the period of the reindeer-hunters who lived during
the last ice age. These people hunted mammals (both land and sea) and fished.
Besides hunting, gathering also played an important role and that included plants,
lichen, fungi, birds’ eggs and shellfish (KARG, 2011). In order to gain a greater
understanding of these cultures it is important to look at other cultures which
display similarities. In the case of the reindeer-hunters we can learn a lot from
arctic cultures. We know from historical research that the Inuit ate large amounts
of raw food. They also prepared food on an open fire or in cooking pits. Water was
brought to the boil on ‘cooking stones’ in empty containers or in an animal’s
stomach. Food such as meat and fish was roasted or grilled on flat stones.
Examples of these stones have been found in the Netherlands at Oldeholtwolde
and in the Holtingerveld (NIEKUS & DE VRIES, 2013). In Oldeholtwolde willow
branches were used as fuel.

More information about food sources can be found by looking at the climate, the
flora and the fauna. We know for instance that the following species of trees and
shrubs grew in the Netherlands in the Early Stone Age: sycamore (Spanish maple),
birch (dwarf birch and white birch), hornbeam, hazel, hawthorn (tree and shrub
species), beech, ash, wild apple, myrtle, wild pear, oak (pedunculated oak), willow
(white, pussy, grey, crack), elder (common elder), yew (taxus), lime and elm
(wych elm). The plants available included: agrimony, goosefoot (Chenopodium),
wild basil, parsnips, lady’s thumb (Persicaria maculosa), spurrey, betony, thyme
and stinging nettles. Fauna in the last ice age consisted of birds, reindeer, etc.

Middle Stone Age

The landscape changed, as did the flora and fauna. The climate became noticeably
warmer. The open woodland with juniper and birch changed slowly into coniferous
forests. Hazel spread very quickly and was used intensively. Over the course of
time the conifers changed into a more diverse landscape with broad-leaved trees
such as elm, oak and lime, and fens and bogs also appeared. Open places and the
edges of woodland provided people with a rich source of food. Reindeer migrated
further north and with them went some of the reindeer hunters.
Other people adapted themselves to their new environment, and a good
understanding of nature was essential. Among animals hunted during the Middle
Stone Age would have been aurochs, bats, moles, beavers, foxes, wild pigs and
boars, red deer, roe deer, elk, otter, brown bears and seals. People also ate birds’
eggs, birds (e.g. cormorant, grey heron, stork, wild ducks and geese, greylag
geese, white-fronted geese, Brent geese, barnacle geese, white-tailed eagles,
partridge, black crows etc), fish (sturgeon, salmon, sea trout, eel and pike),
reptiles, snails and slugs, and shellfish (mussels, clams etc). Fishing gradually
became more important. Cooking techniques remained the same.

As far as trees and shrubs are concerned, apart from those mentioned above in
the Early Stone Age the following species flourished in the Netherlands during the
Middle Stone Age: silver birch, common dogwood and dog-rose (rosehip). New
plants appearing for the first time in the Middle Stone Age included: common
bentgrass, water-plantains, common alder, mugwort or wormwood, wild rhubarb,
oats, shepherd’s purse, thistles, eleocharis, goosegrass, pennywort, dock-cress,
water mint, wild mint, water-lilies, reed grass, narrow-leaved plantain, common
plantain, rough meadow grass, pondweed, sow thistles, chickweed, bulrushes,
ferns, water chestnut and lesser celandine.

Here again we can gain some idea of food sources by looking at the climate and
the flora and fauna. Foodstuffs were widely available and people did not have to
travel long distances to find them. Each season provided a variety of different
foods for the gatherers. In Spring they collected eggs and vegetables, and in the
Autumn fruits and nuts. These fruits included blackberries, elderberries, wild
apples, sloes (blackthorn), wild strawberries and raspberries. Wild vegetables and
herbs included goosefoot, dock leaves, mugwort and nettles. Nuts included hazels
and acorns.

New Stone Age

Hunting, fishing and gathering were still very important and the landscape showed
little sign of human influence. But the introduction of arable farming and cattle
breeding brought changes both in lifestyle and sustenance (KARG 2011).
Agriculture was of the “slash-and-burn” type which resulted in open areas being
created in the thickly wooded ancient forest. Settlements grew in these areas,
consisting of animal pens, gardens, orchards, fertile fields and meadows. The
population grew.

The first crops were barley, einkorn wheat, emmer wheat, peas, lentils, flax,
mistletoe and poppies. The first domestic animals were cows, pigs, goats and
sheep. These animals provided not only meat but also raw materials such as horn,
skins and milk. The harvest was stored in the houses and in provision stores. Food
was cooked, roasted and baked over an open fire. There is archaeological evidence
of bread ovens and pots used as griddles.

There was not just one single culture in the Netherlands during the New Stone Age
but a number of different ones including the Funnel Beaker People, the Michelsberg
Culture, the Corded Ware Culture (Single Grave Culture) and the Beaker Culture.
When talking about food in the New Stone Age it is interesting to look at milk
production. Going back perhaps 6,000 years, most adults in Northern Europe
appear to have possessed extra genes which enabled them to break down starch
and therefore also milk protein. Researchers have tried to establish whether
specific cultures were able to break down milk in this way. Opinions about this are
divided.

Recent research into the New Stone Age in the United Kingdom has also revealed
that about 5,000 years ago voles were eaten, although they were also considered
as pests (ROMANIUK 2016). This was the first time that research was carried out
into rodents as a source of food. Perhaps rodents also played a role in other
periods in prehistory.
Gastronomy and culinary customs of the Ancient World
The ancient world, from Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece until the Roman times,
experimented a large period of perfectionnement, formation and even feedback
amongst civilizations and people regarding gastronomy. This constant perfection
and mutual in flow was accentuated considerably amongst the villages of the
Mediterranean orbe, which flourished by uniting cultures that experimented a
larger political, economic and social peak that generated a process of mutual
culturalization and a transference of styles, fashions and inflows of political,
religious and social character. This, proportioned a fascinating thread at a culinary
level, which facilitated the bases for learning with new techniques, products and
their perfection. 
 This social and cultural synergy, sometimes favored by pacts or alliances which
is the product of an expansionist policy of some villages in benefit of others, led
the way to not only exportation and importation but also of conservancy
techniques, of transformation and consumption of food. This way, through the
Mediterranean, they began to confection certain common traces  of gastronomy in
the ancient world, that currently create the origin of the well known and praised
Mediterranean diet.   

The ancient culinary treaties, in their compilation and edition, didn’t pass from a
mere complication of indication and writings that are directed toward specialists in
the subject, reason why at first glance,  they may seem extremely vague and have
a lack of content or technique. Thing is, the specialization of culinary professionals
and gastronomy sybarites was so specific, that one of the main cards was not to
reveal specifically all the steps for the elaboration of a dish.   To the Greeks,
amongst everything, we owe most of the compilation, assimilation and re
elaboration for most treaties and culinary knowledge of the ancient world, since
due to the fact that they were the center point of the mediterranean in a social,
cultural and aesthetic way, they played the part of a vehicle for ideas, knowledge
and innovation, setting the bases for occidental gastronomy.

In Ancient Greece, certain foods had a basic character (wheat) which involved a
complex grasp rather the vine of grapes (wine) and olive (oil), were considered a
gift from the gods -of divine origin- and only could be consumed in
commemoratory occasions, something exclusively reserved for the elite closer to
the image and attributes that irradiate the human greek gods. Later, their
consumption became popular and in several occasions in literary sources a
consumption of cereals in cakes and oat meal is mentioned. The vegetables, milk
and restricted purchase of meat and fish as products of luxury due to the difficulty
of their access by a major part of the population. It is interesting to stand out the
authority of the Greek polis, which was concentrated in the alimentation of local
markets, generating authentic authorities of production.  

Despite the exclusive and divine character of some foods previously mentioned
(wheat, wine and olive oil) the Greek philosophy understood frugality as a virtue,
reason why in Hellenic continental cities like Esparta, Athens or Corinto, cuisine
lacked of prestige and interest.    
 This way of thinking widely had a contrast with the tastes and tendencies
toward the table being made in Greek colonies like the South of Italy and Sicily, in
the Greek sleeve.  These colonies, powerful and enriched by the commercial traffic
of the Mediterranean, counted with the elite that reflected opulence in their
richness and power in their banquets. Amongst them we can quote Siracuse,
Selinune (whose coin was characterized by featuring a leave of parsley, basic
ingredient in Mediterranean cuisine) or Sybaris, were the word “sybarite” comes
from, word used to name its inhabitants. In these cities, in which accumulated
richness blossomed and the Oriental exchange, is when the most refined Greek
cuisine began to be practiced, with influences and techniques from Egypt and the
Palestine-Syria coast. 

Cities located in Anatolia also contributed by receiving oriental products. Once

this took place, the figure of the cook begins to be valued once again.  Here is
where the concept of gastronomy was born, coming from the word “gaster”
(stomach) and “nomos” (law, government, order). This concept is imposed in the
ancient world and take force as the conception of gastronomy, an ordained treaty
with norms and knowledge regulated by written work and orally transmitted.  It is
once more socially valued and the gourmet concept is born, from the gastronomer,
the professional cook. One example would be the “Opsartiká”, famous and
acknowledged professional cuisine treaties, such as Epeneto or Miteco.

 From the Greek, the Romans pick up the “convivium” from the concept
of“symposium”. In the “symposium”, The Greeks perform socializing in a
sacralization of a group who in occasions enjoyed food and beverages together. It
consisted of a normal ritual where conversation was unpredictable and the
communion of spiritual, philosophical and other kinds of conversation were
touched. In Greece, the banquet was celebrated always with a motive of dinner,
the “deîpnon”, when the day ended and tasks or daily occupations that ended with
nightfall. Right after dinner, the “symposium” began, in which the consumption of
wine was ritualized, gift of from the gods, making civilized use of it, mixing it with
water so drunkenness would not suddenly interrupt the conversation and more
amicable and interesting subject could be spoken of. 

Rome had a similar role, to compile and reinterpret all the techniques, duties,
knowledge and know how gastronomics of the ancient world. Incorporating them
to their culinary corpus at measure they conquered new territories, generating a
cultural gastronomic knowledge without precedent until then. In a parallel manner,
Rome used the Greek heritage of agricultural techniques, recollection process,
transformation of prime materials and related techniques with kettle, fishing and
poultry. 

All of this is captured in treaties and works of literature such as Of Agriculture

(Cato) Of Rustic (Colulmela) or Naturalis Historia (Plinium the Old). 

The Empire, the great impulsor of these techniques, opened its immense
channels of internal communication and made a more dynamic circulation,
exportation and importation of food production, generating a powerful and thriving
economy, in which commerce revealed a more lucrative activity, on which the
roman governors rapidly made fortunes. The wine industry stood out, along with
grain and exotic product of the orient.
 To the markets of Rome, several Greek and Lusitan wines arrived, oils from
Baltica (currently Andalucia), and meat products from the Galias, cereals from
Northern Africa and fruits and spices from Orient; melons, plums and watermelons
amongst others. Spices arrived massively from terrestrial and maritime routes
which connected the empire to the coast of Syria and Palestine, Anatolia, Persia
and Egypt. In the Roman kitchen, the use of pepper, mustard, cinnamon, thyme,
oregano, basil, saffron laserpicio and seseli were rather frequent. 

On the other hand, the commerce and production of “garum” existed, a sauce
obtained by a process of the seasoning of fish, salt and aromatic herbs.
Fundamentally used in fish with abundant fat like sardines, tuna and mackerel, this
last one gave a great quality. Garum converted into an exclusive and indispensable
product in the tables of the most reputed Roman tables, it was a common dressing
with a great quantity of dishes due to its great saline qualities and excellent
capacity of conservation. It production was mainly centered in the salines of South
Hispania, closely linked to the transit of tuna from the strait of Gibraltar. 

It is important to point out, that during the Republican era, Roma was
influenced by customs and morals that praised social moderation, laws (leges
sumptuary) and senate which put a stop to excess and ostentatious created by the
governance. Further on, during the Imperial period, the refinement and luxury,
along with the influence of Magna Greece which Began penetrating into the empire
and ended up imposing, converting into a reflection of power and opulence of the
noble classes. Because of the Greek and Oriental tendencies, the Roman governors
would eat reclined; in their mansions several rooms called “triclinium” could be
found for that particular use, equipped with reclinatories or “U” shaped based
around central tables  where food was served and wine was drank mixed with
water, a custom inherited from the Greeks.

Among the popular classes the frequent consumption of this mix of almost
exclusive character, the “pus” or “pullmentum”, a staple of the time, which
consisted of a gruel to the lower classes often accompanied with something of
timely manner meat, nuts, eggs or vegetables. If we add the fact that the kitchens
were dependencies that used to correspond almost exclusively to the houses of the
patricians, we can understand what was common among the populace; the use
and consumption of food in the “thermopolium”: true fast food establishments
(islands), which also prepared meals for consumption on the street or in homes,
inside the residence of the masses cooking units did not exist. It was common to
have lunch (prandimun) in a frugal character, since dinner was the most copious
meal of the day.

Generally, except for the lower classes who ate the pullmentum once a day, the
Romans carried out three meals a day: The ientaculum, at sunrise, which
consisted of porridge or leftover food from the previous day with nuts, and soaked
in milk or wine. By mid-morning, around noon, the prandium took place, a light
lunch (consisting of wine, vegetables, fish and meats) usually away from home in
the tabernae or thermopolium, and finally the Lord’s Supper, the copious meal of
the day, it usually happened at about six or seven o’clock. Dinner was structured
in different service courses (mensae), called this way because they were mounted
on tables or boards that are served and completely withdrew in orderly succession.

Dinner enjoyed a high social character as the Greek symposium. This feast or
convivium began with Augustus or gustatio consisting of being accompanied by
light snacks and wine fermented with honey (mulsum), ideal to stimulate appetite.
Then they would serve wine mixed with water and the feast continued with the
mensa, made up of foods like iscias (meatballs), based creams, vegetables, fish
and light meats. The main courses were encompassed and heavier around the
Caput Mensa, seasoned with garum, such as “chicken frontoniano” extremely
spicy, or pork, knuckle oats and garum sauce. Desserts and mulsum was the main
focus on the second mensa, among whom were famous donuts, toast and dates
stuffed with nuts, sweetened with honey and spices in order to intensify the
sweetness of honey on the palate.

Then the comissatio occurred, a special celebration is along with dinner, which
took place at a long desk. Diners are put on head wreaths, ivy, laurel, since some
people thought that the smell of these plants neutralizes the effects of wine. Rex
was appointed a convivium (master of ceremonies ) or arbiter of bibendis, which
was usually the host or a prudent person, as he had to play a delicate role: the
person should be an expert in banquets, could not  stop asking for wine, but nor
remain sober, because it was uncomfortable for the other participants who could
not authorize dishonest facts, but neither could limit the pleasures, he had to know
the resistance of the guests to wine and mix with water according to the drunken
state of diner; should encourage drinking and restrict some desire for others, so
that everyone was in the same mood and intoxication.

In the convivium wine libations were made in honor of the gods, the homeland
and the Emperor, and whenever the Rex drank it was provided to the health of any
guest, absentees and, especially, friends. When the guest said the name of his
beloved, he or she had to drink as many glasses as letters his name had.
Especially beloved by the Romans were the condita or artificial wines, complex
wines that were undergoing second fermentation maceration or (as the mulsum)
with rose petals, violets or spices like cinnamon and herbs: parsley or myrtle.

Archeogastronomy: science that studies and reproduces luxury products of the

Roman world.

The Interest of knowledge in gastronomy, diet, customs, rituals from the

ancient world and the latest archaeological findings have allowed researchers to
discover how and where they were made, what ingredients they had, why and
when to consume some of the most exclusive products of ancient Roman tables,
like wine or garum.

The ancient Roman surveyors treaties, Columella and Palladius, and best known
culinary recipes of the Roman world , Re Coquinaria of Marcus Apicius, have been
the basis for launching a research project on an experimental stage which helped a
interdisciplinary team of archaeologists and specialized winemakers, held in Seville
(Spain) by Dinamo Culture S. L. that has resulted in “Baetica”, a line of wines
produced with the same Roman techniques and natural produce which is
distributed exclusively by outlets and specialty channels. Reproduced wines that
reached more fame and recognition in the finest banquet tables: the mulsum, wine
roses, cinnamon and violets, appreciated for their taste, aroma and its complex
system of production. Similarly, in Cadiz, a conserved residue in the vessels of a
“tabernae” in Pompeii has allowed to reproduce garum two thousand years after a
team of archaeologists, chemists and cooks from the Universities of Seville and
Cadiz could analyze it. One of the gourmet products of the Romans, garum, a
sauce produced from tuna and sea salt from the Bay of Cadiz, which will start
marketing in Europe under the trademark “Flower Garum” to be in stores starting
from the fall of 2013.