Examining the Diets of Prehistoric People

One of the most important pieces of information about a prehistoric people is the nature of their diet.This information is especially relevant when trying to answer questions related to the origins and development of agriculture.Archaeologists can approach diet in a number of ways.They can study diet indirectly by figuring out what people might have eaten based on what was available in their natural environment.For example,deer,duck,turkey,and fish are known to have been available in what is now the northeastern United States for about 7,000 years.A hunting-and-gathering people in this area are likely to have used such resources at one time or another.The weakness of this method of reasoning is that we cannot know with certainty which of the available foods were most important in the diet.

On the other hand,archaeologists can approach the question of diet more directly if there has been good preservation.In many instances,food remains themselves are still present in archaeological sites.Archaeologists can study the fireplaces and garbage heaps of the people who lived at a site and recover food material if it has been preserved.Such remains as bone,seeds,and nuts are often fragile and fragmentary,however,making it difficult to get them out of the ground and back to the lab for identification and analysis.In many cases,an archaeologist takes the entire feature,including all soil, back to the laboratory,instead of attempting to separate the dry soil matrix from the fragile archaeological remains in the field.In the lab, through a number of different procedures collectively called flotation, the archaeologist uses liquid to do the job of separation,taking advantage of the fact that soil and rock will not float in some liquids, whereas organic remains will.

The next task in the reconstruction of a prehistoric diet is the identification of the species of plant or animal represented by the remains.This task can be difficult because of the fragmentary nature of such remains and the changes in them as they decay.In some cases,no precise identification can be made-the piece of bone is too small or the seed too broken up to tell what it is with any degree of confidence.But by comparing the fragment to items in a“l(fā)ibrary”of bones,nuts,and seeds,archaeologists can often identify many of the dietary remains found at a site.

The examination of the animal remains found at a site is called faunal analysis.Here,the species represented,their sex,ages at death,health,and physical characteristics are identified.Knowing the species of the remains as well as their age,sex,and health status can provide insight into the hunting practices of prehistoric people. Were the people hunting large numbers of herd animals in group hunts,or were their prey solitary creatures that could be hunted by individual hunters?Were the ancient people able to kill large animals in their prime or only those that were very young,very old,or sick? Also,because many animals give birth to their young seasonally, knowing the age at death of a young animal helps determine the season of the hunt.For example,the North American white-tailed deer usually gives birth to its young in May or June.If the bones of a deer found at an archaeological site indicate an age of nine months, the animal must have been killed,and the site was most probably occupied,in February or March.

Information about diet can sometimes be gathered from an animal’s teeth and bones.For example,in mammals teeth provide clues to overall food sources.Carnivores such as dogs and cats,for example,have slicing teeth adapted to meat eating.Humans have a more generalized dentition,built for chewing a variety of foods. Certain wear patterns on the teeth,examined microscopically,can reveal whether the diet was made up of soft foods such as fruits or more abrasive foods such as roots and tubers.Prehistoric bones can be analyzed to determine what proportion of their chemical composition is strontium and calcium;this information can be used to determine whether plants or meat made up the bulk of the diet of certain populations.?

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?One of the most important pieces of information about a prehistoric people is the nature of their diet.This information is especially relevant when trying to answer questions related to the origins and development of agriculture.Archaeologists can approach diet in a number of ways.They can study diet indirectly by figuring out what people might have eaten based on what was available in their natural environment.For example,deer,duck,turkey,and fish are known to have been available in what is now the northeastern United States for about 7,000 years.A hunting-and-gathering people in this area are likely to have used such resources at one time or another.The weakness of this method of reasoning is that we cannot know with certainty which of the available foods were most important in the diet.

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