The first people (namely people, not apes) appeared on the scene of life about 1,000,000 years ago. In those prehistoric times, there could be no talk of any cooking, however, archaeologists claim that already a million years ago our ancestors sought to process food and even prepare it using a certain technology.

Initially, ancient people ate mainly plant foods. Gradually, this vegetarian menu began to be supplemented with meat dishes. The appearance of meat in the human diet appeared due to the development of hunting skills. At first, ancient man hunted alone, but gradually hunting became a collective activity; a successful hunt made it possible to feed an entire tribe. When human brain began to develop, and the diet became more complex ancient man. Ancient people were engaged in primitive gathering and at first they did not require any complex tools or manipulations. Then man had to develop intelligence in order to get hard-to-reach fruits or, for example, find a way to crack hard nuts.

The human brain began to develop and plant foods could no longer provide the brain and body with the necessary energy. Although scientists have not yet figured out whether protein foods of animal origin could affect brain development, or, on the contrary, the increased energy consumption of the brain pushed a person to consume meat. One thing is for sure: human brain development and the caloric content and quality of food are very closely related.

Today, no one knows how ancient people figured out that meat processed by fire becomes more nutritious and tastier. Most likely, one of the ancient hunters came across the corpses of animals that were burned during forest fire, and decided to eat it. But another fact is more surprising: one of our ancestors came up with a brilliant idea; they realized that meat could be seasoned with plant ingredients, such as crushed leaves and roots, etc. Then people began to memorize the methods for preparing meat and vegetable dishes and repeat them. Perhaps this is how the first recipes in human history appeared.

Diet of primitive man

According to excavations, Cro-Magnons consumed plant and animal food V equal volumes. But soon the Cro-Magnons switched to plant foods. But on the other hand, it was the Cro-Magnons who learned to domesticate livestock, and they no longer had to go on difficult and dangerous hunts with the whole tribe. To this day, there are tribes in the Amazon jungle that consume mainly plant foods, since the extraction of meat in their habitat is very difficult and dangerous. The Cro-Magnons began to develop agriculture, which was less dangerous to human life than hunting and gathering. Although it was not uncommon for lean years to occur, which led to the extinction of the tribe.

Thus cooking ancient world was divided into three stages:

man discovers the potential of animal food

a man learns to process meat with fire

man opens herbs and spices

mixed nutrition occurs

The Paleo diet, which has recently become popular in medical circles, was created back in the 1970s by gastroenterologist Walter Vogtlin. He was the first to suggest that the food that our Paleolithic ancestors consumed could make us healthier modern people. Returning to the diet of our ancestors, according to Dr. Vogtlin and a dozen of his followers, can dramatically reduce the likelihood of developing Crohn's disease. diabetes mellitus, obesity, indigestion and a host of other diseases. But is the modern palo diet really similar to the diet of our ancestors?

Features of the Paleo Diet

At first glance, such a diet has similarities to what a Paleolithic person might have eaten. The diet mainly consists of meat and fish, which early man might have obtained from hunting and fishing, and plants that he might have gathered, including nuts, seeds, vegetables and fruits. It is necessary to avoid grains and their products, since the prehistoric period preceded the cultivation of agricultural crops. Dairy products are also prohibited - primitive man did not breed animals for milk or meat. Honey is the only sugar that is allowed to be consumed during the diet, because, as we know, refined sugar did not exist at that time. Salt consumption is also limited - our ancestors certainly did not have salt shakers on the table. Processed foods of any kind are prohibited. The meat should be obtained from those animals that were fed exclusively on grass, which is as close as possible to the diet of ruminants of that time.

What did primitive people really eat?

However, critics argue that the paleo diet dramatically simplifies everything that primitive man could eat. Meat or fish are given first place in it, but there is no evidence that it was proteins that formed the basis of the diet of primitive man. Just like modern eating habits, the diet of the Paleolithic era was highly dependent on where people lived. Groups that settled in areas similar to modern deserts were unlikely to be able to obtain fish for themselves, and meat was likely to be infrequent for their lunch. Most likely, nuts, seeds and even insects played a large role in their diet. Groups that lived in cold regions had limited access to fresh vegetables and fruits. Their diet was almost entirely based on meat, and it is possible that they ate all parts of the animal to eliminate the shortage caused by the lack of fresh food. Critics argue that modern paleo diets do not take such details into account.

The main arguments of critics

However, the most controversial aspect of the Paleo diet is its ability to improve health. While most modern people would benefit from eating more fruits and vegetables, it is very difficult to say whether early man was healthier than our contemporaries. After all, many children died before the age of 15, and few adults passed the 40-year mark.

In addition, recent research published in The Lancet found alarmingly high rates of atherosclerosis in ancient mummies found. The disease was found in 47 of the 137 mummies discovered. This calls into question the theory that our ancestors were much healthier than we are now.

PD 1(17) Secrets of dietetics

Nutrition of primitive man

dietitian of the Moscow State Budgetary Healthcare Institution "Psychiatric Hospital No. 13 of the Moscow Health Department"

Dietetics for a jealous person is intuition. It was this feeling that guided our ancestors, helped them choose the right food products (meat, fresh and frozen animal blood, fermented foods, etc.), and master new methods of cooking.

In turn, expanding the diet, introducing into it such products as animal meat, obtaining from food required quantity proteins of animal origin, fats and carbohydrates, vitamins and microelements contributed to the socio-cultural and intellectual development humanity.

The upper limit of the described period, which marks the beginning of a new time in the history of mankind, is considered to be the beginning of the glacier’s retreat, which occurred 12-19 thousand years ago. According to archaeological periodization, this is the time of the Upper Paleolithic (in common parlance - the Stone Age); according to geological periodization, this is the final period of the Würm, or Vistula, glaciation (in the territory Eastern Europe the term “Valdai glaciation”) of the Quaternary period of the Cenozoic era is also applied to it.

Social function of food

What did Stone Age people eat, what did their food consist of, how did they prepare and store it? Unfortunately, researchers of ancient times paid little attention to such important issues. However, these areas seem extremely important.

The social function of food seems key to understanding the process of formation of ancient societies, in which many traditions and rituals of much later times, right up to modern times, have their roots. It is extremely difficult to understand them without going back to their origins. History on the issue of nutrition shows that food and the traditions associated with it contributed to the establishment of social ties no less than their work activities.

Directions that reveal the topic of food consumption by ancient people can be divided into three groups. The first, the simplest, is related to what primitive people ate. The second and third are more complex: how ancient people prepared and preserved food. It is these three areas that will be discussed further.

WHAT DID PRIMITIVE PEOPLE EAT?

Evolution of diet

Enough long period ancient man ate fruits, leaves and grains. Confirmation of his vegetarianism is found in the remains of the teeth of ancient people and in some indirect evidence, for example, about the absence of large groups of ancient people necessary for hunting animals.

Then climate change led to a reduction plant food, and man was forced to eat meat, which in the Paleolithic era formed the basis of his diet. And finally, climate changes after the retreat of the last glacier led to the fact that the human diet diversified significantly - meat and plant foods were supplemented with seafood and fish.

We suggest you consider key points in the formation of the diet of ancient man from the moment when plant food became insufficient for him.

MAMMOTH HUNTING

Most often, people followed the laws of logic and practice - they got food and ate what was found and located nearby, close to their habitat - “dwelling”. It is known that ancient people tried to settle near places convenient for finding food, for example, near reservoirs where herds of animals gathered. It is believed that mammoths were one of the the most important sources nutrition of ancient man. In terms of nutrition, the mammoth attracted humans with its mass of meat and fat, the latter, most likely, was indispensable for ancient man. Since the beginning of the melting of the glacier, which finally retreated in the 10th millennium BC, partial changes have occurred in the meat diet of ancient man. The climate becomes softer, and where the glacier has retreated, new forests and lush vegetation appear. Changes and fauna. Large animals of previous eras are disappearing - mammoths, woolly rhinoceroses, some species of musk ox, saber-toothed cats, cave bear and other species of animals large sizes. For your information, Russian scientists are currently not giving up hope of cloning an ancient representative of the elephant family. The project “Revival of the Mammoth” was created - this is a joint brainchild of the Yakut Research Institute of Applied Ecology of the North of the North-Eastern Federal University and the Korean Biotechnology Foundation Soom Biotech.

Transition to meat food

Thanks to the “improvement instinct inherent in human nature,” man began to produce tools and switched to a meat diet, notes the French philosopher, lawyer, and political figure Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin in 1825 in his treatise “The Physiology of Taste.” The transition to meat food was a natural process, since “a person’s stomach is too small for plant foods to provide sufficient nutrients", proteins, fats, in fact, energy for life.

A special role in the formation of social behavior in human culture was assigned to meat, since meat has retained a special place in nutrition since ancient times.

Lots of meat

Of course, ancient man consumed meat, and apparently a lot. Evidence of this is the significant accumulation of animal bones throughout the habitat of ancient man. Moreover, this is not a random collection of bones, since researchers find traces of stone tools on the bones; these bones were carefully processed, removing the meat, and often crushed - intramarrow, apparently, was very popular among our ancestors.

Hunting was at times supplemented by collecting berries, plant roots, and bird eggs, but this did not play a significant role. These data suggest that the assumption that ancient people exclusively meat-based food has a very real basis and that such food could be quite sufficient. If numerous peoples of the North could and can survive today only on meat food, this means that ancient man could survive only on meat food.

For people of the Late Paleolithic era, the meat of wild animals was the basis of their food system and existence. All these animals - wild bulls, bears, moose, deer, wild boars, goats and others - are the basis of everyday nutrition for many peoples today.

Animal blood played an important role in the diet of ancient people, which they consumed both fresh and as part of more complex dishes. Modern scientists have confirmed that with an exclusively meat diet, it is an invaluable supplier of vitamins and minerals.

Animal fat, subcutaneous and internal, was especially valued, playing a significant role in the diet of ancient people. For example, in the Far North, fat was irreplaceable and was often the only source of various necessary for the body substances.

Plant foods in the diet

Researchers primitive society There is now no doubt that food plant origin and the method of obtaining it - gathering, as well as meat food and the method of obtaining it - hunting, occupied a special place in the life of ancient man.

There is indirect evidence of this: the presence of plant food residues on the teeth of fossil skulls, the medically proven human need for the intake of a number of substances contained primarily in plant foods. Moreover, in order to switch to agriculture in the future, a person had to have an established taste for food products of plant origin.

Plant food was indispensable for primitive man. Ancient physicians and philosophers wrote many works about certain types plant food. Based on written evidence from a later era and the surviving practice of consuming certain types of wild plants, we can say that plant foods were varied.

For example, ancient authors testify to the benefits and widespread use during that period of acorns. Thus, Plutarch extols the virtues of the oak, arguing that “of all wild trees, the oak bears the best fruit.” Not only were its acorns used to make bread, but it also provided honey for drinking.

The medieval Persian physician Avicenna in his treatise writes about healing properties acorns that help with various diseases, in particular for stomach diseases, bleeding, as a remedy for various poisons. He notes that there are “people who are accustomed to eating acorns, and even make bread from them, which does not harm them, and benefit from it.”

Ancient ancient authors also mention arbuta, or strawberry, as the main advantages. This is a plant whose fruits are somewhat reminiscent of strawberries. Another heat-loving wild plant, known since ancient times, is the lotus. The root of this plant, round and the size of an apple, is also edible.

Diet variety

As we see, the food of ancient man was presented as meat products, and plant-based. Perhaps he quite consciously diversified his diet, supplementing the basic meat diet with plant foods. This leads to the idea that the diet of ancient man was not so monotonous. He probably had taste preferences. His food was not aimed solely at satisfying hunger.

By the end of the Paleolithic, the first “food” differentiation and the associated features of the socio-cultural development of ancient people took shape. This moment is especially important for the subsequent history of human nutrition.

Firstly, it clearly shows the relationship between food consumption and lifestyle, culture and in some respects public organization ancient human collective. Secondly, differentiation indicates the presence of preferences, a certain choice, and not just simple addiction depending on the circumstances.

Understanding the benefits and harms

More and more new types of food products appeared in the human diet. How did ancient people determine the benefits or harms of food?

This happened in stages. With the advent of fire, a variety of diets arose, especially meat and fish. Then a person developed the concept of taste, what is tasty and what is not tasty. Then data appeared from practical life, purely intuitively, and then consciously, what is useful and what is harmful. For example, people consumed fresh blood without any understanding, but it saved their lives. We can say that intuitive concepts about “vitaminology” have appeared.

Blood instead of salt

An important issue that needs to be addressed when talking about the nutrition of prehistoric humans concerns salt consumption. Primitive people had no need for salt and, most likely, did not use it.

Before the transition to agriculture with a predominance of plant foods in his diet, man was content with the salt that he received from the fresh blood of animals. The blood of consumed animals contains a sufficient amount of essential natural microelements and minerals.

Consumption of fresh blood and raw meat by primitive people it was necessary even after man mastered fire and learned to cook with it, since cooked meat does not have a sufficient amount of natural salt substitutes.

Numerous testimonies from Russian and foreign travelers of the past indicate that the indigenous inhabitants of the North of Russia, who hunt, did not know salt until the twentieth century. Thus, the “paired” blood of animals among the northern peoples is revered as a delicacy. But they did not use salt and even felt disgust for it.

But the further south you go, the greater the need for salt. Firstly, this is due to the significant amount of plant foods consumed in the south. And secondly, living in a hot climate itself forces the body to consume more salt.

E501 - heritage of ancestors

In ancient times, salt was obtained from the ash of burning plants and evaporating salt from spring salt water. The substance obtained by burning plants became widespread in later eras. It is called potash or potassium carbonate, currently registered as food additive E501 (approved for use by TR CU 029/2012). Potash is a good natural preservative, and it was often used to replace salt in cases where it was not possible to obtain it.

With the transition of man to agriculture, the most ancient sources and substitutes for salt were not enough. The so-called Neolithic Revolution, among other things, also meant the end of the “salt-free” existence of man, who was forced to begin searching for ways to find and obtain salt for his needs.

Domesticated herbivores could not exist without salt, so the extraction of salt in large quantities has become a vital necessity for humans.

COOKING OF THE PALEOLITHIC ERA

Piping hot

It was also necessary for humans to discover new methods of cooking - “cooking”, if this word can be applied to a person of the Paleolithic era. As a result, food became more satisfying and plentiful. It became possible to eat all parts of the animal that were previously thrown away, that is, people began to use the results of extraction more rationally. Human influence on food to transform it began to be of a conscious nature, and was not an use of the situation.

Regarding the methods of preparing food, archaeological and later ethnographic data are sufficient to restore an objective picture:

simple roasting of meat over an open fire;
roasting meat in ash;
roasting meat on coals, in skins, in leaves, clay, in its own shell;
cooking over hot coals;
cooking meat by pressing it between hot stones;
cooking food in dishes made from animal skins, parts of their bodies (for example, stomach, gall and bladder), hollows hollowed out of wood, woven from different parts plants - bark, stems, branches of vessels, natural vessels - shells, skulls, horns.

Archaeological data indicate the presence various types ovens for cooking food in the Late Paleolithic era:

cooking in dug holes in the ground with a fire lit on top;
cooking in holes dug in the ground, where a fire was first lit and after the fire burned out, the ashes were raked to the walls, and food was laid out on the cleared bottom for cooking;
pits are ovens lined with stones.

The bones of the animals themselves often served as fuel for fires, especially in winter time, when it was more difficult to obtain wood in cold regions, as well as in those regions where there was a shortage of wood.

Conscious transformation of food, in addition to the physiological benefits of better absorption nutrients, also affected physical development person, and this could not but lead to the development of a taste for food, the desire to diversify it for pleasure.

STORAGE OF PRODUCTS

Delicacies of the Ancients

The oldest and the simplest way processing food without the use of any additional devices is associated with its fermentation and fermentation. Moreover, initially this happened without the addition of salt or other reagents that provoked and intensified the process. This method of cooking led to softening and improving its taste, increasing the shelf life of products, even turning inedible into edible. This method of cooking was very common among primitive tribes; meat, fish, and plants were prepared this way.

Everything is suitable for fermentation: herbs, meat, individual parts of animals, fish, even animal blood. Of course, you will not find archaeological traces of fermentation of products in the primitive era. But the fact that this method of food procurement has been preserved among many peoples of the world is hardly accidental.

In Russia, where there was a shortage in most regions for quite a long period fresh vegetables and fruits, the method of fermenting food products was mastered. The famous sauerkraut is an indispensable source of vitamins in the Russian village throughout almost the entire year, as well as pickled cucumbers, beets, apples, berries, green herbs and other plants to this day remain on our table.

To be fair, let’s say that fermenting fish, for example, is common among many peoples - not only in the Far North and Scandinavia. In Russia, this method of cooking was widespread among the Pomors, who fermented fish in barrels until completely softened. Thus, the fish was not only preserved for a long time, but also received additional beneficial properties.

Shark meat is prepared in the same way in Iceland. However, the health benefits of this dish are questionable - the product contains ammonia and smells strongly of it.

In a word, fermentation is a simple technology, the absence of any special devices or additional complex ingredients, even salt, the maximum affordable way cooking for ancient man.

Technologies for centuries

Another very common way of preserving food, inherited from our ancestors, is freezing.

In ancient times, they were also involved in food canning: there were pits around ancient dwellings, which could also be used as a kind of hermetic containers - “canned food”.

Other methods of food processing known to us were widely used - drying and drying meat, fish and plants.

All the above-mentioned methods of cooking food: on fire, in something like ovens, in holes dug in the ground, etc., are quite simple and do not require special vessels.

The “gastronomic” fate of man

Of course, modern knowledge about the nutrition of ancient man is very limited. Larger interdisciplinary work remains to be done to study this issue, especially since humans have changed so much over 10 thousand years. In addition, it has been scientifically proven that modern world Requirements for proteins, fats and carbohydrates vary from crop to crop. Now it is impossible to restore those food products that constituted the food of antiquity: domesticated animals bear little resemblance to their distant ancestors, including in chemical composition meat and fat. The same can be said about cultivated plants.

It is impossible not to take into account the changes that have occurred in water, air and other essential elements human habitat. Studying initial stage history of mankind seems extremely important for understanding what happened in the future. It was in ancient times that many of the foundations were laid that determined the further “gastronomic” destiny of man. The most important point here lies in the formation by the end of the Stone Age of a very developed food system, with certain principles of food preparation, devices for this and taste preferences. During this period the foundations were laid social behavior, usually associated with the extraction, preparation and eating of food. After all, the relationship between members of the community, a representative of their collective with representatives of other collectives, was based to a large extent on a “food basis.”

Intuition - dietology of the ancients

If we talk about the nutritional side, then, of course, there was no need to talk about any dietetics at that time. Ancient people purely intuitively and then consciously used fresh and frozen blood, pickled products (sauerkraut, pickled fish products, honey drinks, fresh berries and fruits). There were no data or concepts about the composition of products (proteins, fats, carbohydrates), about its energy value(calorie intake), about vitamins and minerals, due to the fact that there were no such sciences as chemistry, biochemistry, physics. But ancient people already understood well which foods were beneficial to human health and which were harmful.

LIST OF REFERENCES USED

Kozlovskaya M.V. The phenomenon of nutrition in human evolution and history, M., 2002. - 30 p.

Kozlov A.I. Food of people, Fryazino, 2005.

Dobrovolskaya M. V. Man and his food, M., 2005.

Kolpakov E.M. Nutrition of the ancient population of the European Arctic // In: Scientific and practical conference. Nutrition and intelligence. Collection of works. - St. Petersburg. — 2015. — p. 29-33.

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In ancient times, people were rarely obese. They had their own healthy diet, which has nothing to do with modern diets and other nonsense. They simply ate natural food, grown with their own hands, mainly porridge and herbal products, meat, milk. Because they didn’t have hypermarkets filled with sausages and cheeses. As they say, what is grown is what is eaten. That's why they were healthy.

Regardless of nationality and climate conditions, a person will be healthy if he refuses artificially created products: chips, pizzas, cakes, food filled with sugar in abundance.

It turns out that organizing something healthy is very simple. You can borrow some recipes and concepts from the ancients and transfer them to modern life. The basis of the diet should be easy to prepare dishes from vegetables and meat livestock, fish, add fruits, grains and root vegetables.

The traditional cuisine of the Russian people has partially preserved ancient recipes. The Slavs were engaged in growing grain crops: barley, rye, oats, millet and wheat. They prepared ritual porridge from grains with honey - kutya, the rest of the porridges were cooked from flour and crushed grains. Garden crops were grown: cabbage, cucumbers, rutabaga, radishes, turnips.

They consumed different types of meat: beef, pork, and there are even some records of horse meat, but this most likely happened during the famine years. Meat was often cooked over coals; this method of baking was also found among other nations and was widespread everywhere. All these mentions date back to the 10th century.

Russian chefs honored and preserved traditions; this can be learned from old books, such as “Painting for the Royal Dishes”, monastic writings, and the dining book of Patriarch Philaret. These scriptures mention traditional dishes: cabbage soup, fish soup, pancakes, pies, various pies, kvass, jelly and porridge.

Mainly healthy eating ancient Rus' was due to cooking in a large oven, which was in every house.

The Russian stove was located with its mouth towards the door so that the smoke would be ventilated from the room during cooking. When cooking, the smell of smoke remained on the food, which imparted a special taste to the dishes. Most often, soups were cooked in pots in a Russian oven, vegetables were stewed in cast iron, something was baked, meat and fish were fried in large pieces, all this was dictated by the cooking conditions. And as you know, healthy eating is based on boiled and stewed dishes.

Around the 16th century, the division of nutrition into 3 main branches began:

Monastyrskaya (base – vegetables, herbs, fruits);
Rural;
Tsarskaya.

The most important meal was lunch - 4 dishes were served:

Cold appetizer;
Second;
Pies.

The appetizers were varied, but mostly presented vegetable salads. Instead of soup in winter, they often ate jelly or pickle soup, and cabbage soup was served with pies and fish. They most often drank fruit and berry juices, herbal infusions; the oldest drink is considered to be bread kvass, which could be made with the addition of mint, berries, and the like.

On holidays it was often large number dishes, among rural residents it reached 15, among boyars up to 50, and at royal feasts up to 200 types of food were served. Often festive feasts lasted more than 4 hours, reaching 8. It was customary to drink honey before and after meals; during the feast they often drank kvass and beer.

The character of the cuisine has retained traditional features in all 3 directions even in our time. The principles of traditional nutrition are quite consistent with the currently known rules of healthy eating.

The basis of the diet was vegetables, grains and meat, there was not a large amount of sweets, sugar in pure form was absent altogether; honey was used instead. Until a certain time there was no tea and coffee; they drank various juices and brewed herbs.

Salt in the diet of our ancestors was also in very limited quantities due to its cost.

It is also worth noting that both the Slavs and peasants were engaged in agriculture and cattle breeding, which was hard physical labor, so they could afford to eat fatty meat and fish. Despite the widespread belief that boiled potatoes with herbs are an original Russian dish, this is not at all true. Potatoes appeared and took root in our diet only in the 18th century.

How did the paleo diet come about?

You can dig deeper and remember that truly healthy eating existed even in the Stone Age. Did ancient people live without sandwiches and donuts? And they were strong and healthy. Nowadays the paleontological diet is gaining popularity. Its essence is to give up dairy products and cereal foods (bread, pasta).

The main argument in favor of this diet is this: the human body adapted to life in the Stone Age and, since our genetic structure has remained practically unchanged, the food of cavemen is the most suitable for us.

Basic principles:

Meat, fish, vegetables, fruits can be eaten in any quantity;
Salt is excluded from the diet;
You will also have to give up beans, cereals, industrial products (cookies, sweets, cakes, chocolate bars) and dairy products.

Menu for the day:

Steamed pike perch, melon, together up to 500 grams;
Salad of vegetables and walnuts (unlimited), lean beef or pork, baked in the oven, up to 100 grams;
Lean beef, steamed, up to 250 grams, salad with avocado, up to 250 grams;
Some fruit or a handful of berries;
Carrot and apple salad, half an orange.

However, it is worth considering that such nutrition is more reminiscent of than healthy, because modern man About 70% of energy comes from cereals and dairy products.

Your feedback on the article:

Why is the answer to the question: “What did ancient people eat?” so important for scientists working in the field of geoarchaeology - a scientific field at the intersection of natural sciences and archeology? The fact is that it is not always possible to obtain a well-founded conclusion only on the basis of studying written, archaeological and paleofaunistic materials.

Let me give you an example from my practice: in a “shell heap” (a collection of empty mollusk shells collected, eaten and discarded by ancient people) in Boismana Bay (Primorsky Territory) many bones of terrestrial animals were found - deer, roe deer, wild boar, etc. And the data from the study of the contents stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen in the bones of 10 skeletons of people who lived at this site about 6,400 years ago indicate that about 80% of their food was marine organisms: seals and fish (their bones are also found), as well as shellfish. Obviously, without a specific study of the paleo diet, conclusions about what natural resources were most important for certain human populations will turn out to be unreliable. Consequently, it will be very difficult to restore the lifestyle and economy of the prehistoric population. Therefore, in the world since the 1970s. work is underway to determine ancient nutrition based on instrumental isotope methods (in Russia they began only in the late 1990s).

In June 2017, the second international conference “Radiocarbon and Diet” was held at the University of Aarhus (Denmark), at which the latest results studying the nutritional structure of ancient people. About 70 scientists from 19 countries of Europe, America and Asia (among them eight Russians from Barnaul, Samara, Novosibirsk, St. Petersburg, Moscow and Orenburg) took part in the forum. The previous conference on this topic was held in 2014 in Kiel (Germany) (see NBC dated October 16, 2014); The interest of specialists in questions of prehistoric diet led to the continuation of the event, which has now become regular. The next, third conference will take place in Oxford (UK) in 2020.

Denmark is known in world archeology for its unique mummies from swamps, where, in the absence of oxygen, human remains are preserved for thousands of years. One of the most famous finds is the "Tollund Man", discovered while mining peat in 1950 and kept in the Silkeborg Museum, where it can be seen on display. Recently, Danish experts studied the exact age and diet of the Tollund man. It turned out that he lived about 2400 years ago and ate mainly food of terrestrial origin - animals and plants (including cultivated ones).

Data on the nutrition of the local population make it possible to highlight the presence of “outsiders” in a particular region. During excavations of a mass burial in Aalborg (Denmark), associated with the “Skipper Clement's Riot” (1534), the remains of 18 people were discovered. Isotope analysis showed that their diet was no different from that of local residents buried near one of the city’s churches. This was explained by the fact that the mass grave contained rebels from the Aalborg area, and not the mercenary soldiers who stormed the city.

The study of the diet of the early population of Iceland was carried out on the basis of materials from the settlements of the coast and internal parts islands; The bones of 79 people were analyzed. It turned out that on the ocean coast people ate a large amount of seafood, and in the interior of the island - mainly the fruits of agriculture and cattle breeding. It would seem that such a conclusion looks trivial and quite expected, but something else turned out: the diet of the early Icelanders remained unchanged for several hundred years and did not depend on the dominant religion (paganism or Christianity, which replaced it in 1000 AD). And here is an analysis of the bones of one of the Icelandic bishops, who occupied a high social status, showed that his diet consisted of 17% seafood, which somewhat older the radiocarbon age of the remains (this is called the “reservoir effect”): since it is known exact date death of a priest, the difference can be determined.

Studies of bones from a burial ground of the Hunnic period in Mongolia (3rd century BC - 1st century AD) showed that the steppe population ate not only land animals, but also fish and millet. To more reliably identify food sources, we used computer program FRUITS (freely available on the Internet), which allows you to model protein intake from different sources. Without studying the isotopic composition of the bones, it would be impossible to find out what the Huns' diet consisted of, since burial grounds usually do not contain animal or fish bones.

A group of Russian scientists has presented the first data on the diet of the population of the Early Iron Age "shell mound culture" of Primorye, which existed on the coast of the Sea of Japan about 3,200 years ago. Since in Primorye (and on Far East Russia as a whole) finds of ancient human bones are very rare, which I started in the 1990s. work stopped at some point due to the lack of new material. And then chance helped: in 2015-2016. During the rescue work in the future gambling zone near Vladivostok, an archaeological site was discovered where the burials of 37 people were preserved! Studies of the isotopic composition of the bones of 11 people and 30 animals led to the conclusion that the main food sources were marine mammals and shellfish, as well as cultivated plants - millet and chumiza (they differ significantly from other cereals in their carbon isotopic composition). Direct definition The ancient diet, although generally consistent with the conclusions of archaeologists drawn from the study of artifacts, remains of plants and animals, is a significant contribution to our knowledge of the ancient population of Primorye.

The report, dedicated to the diet of the population of ancient Russian cities (Yaroslavl, Moscow, Smolensk, Tver, Pereslavl-Zalessky, Dmitrov, Kolomna and Mozhaisk) and rural populations, used the results of analyzes of about 420 skeletons. It turned out that the elite living in the Kremlins ate more proteins than the townspeople, and much more than the rural population.

The second most important direction of the conference work is closely related to the study of the paleo diet - the definition of the “reservoir effect”: its essence is that when consuming a significant amount of food of aquatic origin (both river and sea), the radiocarbon age of the bones of humans and animals that fed on shellfish becomes older, fish, birds and mammals that lived in aquatic environment. These studies have been purposefully conducted since the 1990s. How much can dating results be distorted? Estimates presented in Aarhus show values up to 1000 years (and in the case of one of the lakes in northern Germany - up to 1450 years!), which is important for constructing an archaeological chronology of the last 10 thousand years. On the territory of Russia, significant-scale work has been carried out in the Baikal region and on Lake Onega (together with scientists from Canada and Great Britain), which was reported in several reports.

The third direction related to the paleo diet is the study of the isotopic composition of food deposits on ceramics and fatty acids(lipids) absorbed into the walls of blood vessels during cooking. It also gives information about what the people who used these clay vessels ate. New data for northern Russia and the US Midwest were presented at the meeting.

One of the most promising directions in the study of the paleo diet today is the analysis of individual amino acids in the organic matter of bones (collagen). It should be noted that in Russia (in particular, in Novosibirsk scientific center SB RAS) everything is available necessary equipment for such work, but there is often a lack of collaboration between archaeologists and natural scientists, which needs to be overcome as soon as possible - there are already examples of successful joint work.

I'M IN. Kuzmin, Doctor of Geographical Sciences,conference participant, member of the organizing committee,Institute of Geology and Mineralogy SB RAS