Leafy greens first dished up 3,500 years ago [West Africa]

EurekAlert! ^ | January 28, 2022 | Goethe University

[SunkenCiv]

Over 450 prehistoric pots were examined, 66 of them contained traces of lipids, that is, substances insoluble in water. On behalf of the Nok research team at Goethe University, chemists from the University of Bristol extracted lipid profiles, with the aim of revealing which plants had been used. The results have now been published in “Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences”: over a third of the 66 lipid profiles displayed very distinctive and complex distributions – indicating that different plant species and parts had been processed.

Today, leafy vegetables, for example the cooked leaves of trees such as the baobab (Adansonia digitata) or of the shrubby – nomen est omen – bitter leaf (Vernonia amygdalina), accompany many West African dishes. These leafy sauces are enhanced with spices and vegetables as well as fish or meat, and complement the starchy staples of the main dish, such as pounded yam in the southern part of West Africa or thick porridge made from pearl millet in the drier savannahs in the north. By combining their expertise, archaeology and archaeobotany researchers at Goethe University and chemical scientists from the University of Bristol have corroborated that the origins of such West African dishes date back 3,500 years...

“Carbonised plant remains such as seeds and nutshells preserved in archaeological sediments reflect only part of what people ate back then,” explains Professor Katharina Neumann. They hoped, she says, that the chemical analyses would deliver additional insights into food preparation. And indeed, with the help of lipid biomarkers and analyses of stable isotopes, the researchers from Bristol were able to show, by examining over 450 prehistoric pots, that the Nok people included different plant species in their diet.Goethe University

[SunkenCiv]

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[Magnum44]

Very interesting...

[AAABEST]

This article cannot be suggesting that the “dawn” of humans eating leafy greens was only 3,500 years ago.

That’d be dumb.

[Americannae1362]

So Africans ate different plants 3,500 years ago.
That is so amazing, I’m just speechless...........

[SunkenCiv]

Hey, never rule out stupidity!

[SunkenCiv]

There’s still no archaeological evidence for the dawn off pancakes though.

[frank ballenger]

A few digs have turned up new tombs and other relics. Maybe another layer down will be the earliest IHOP buildings.

Nov., 2021 story:....uncovered the tomb of Batah-M-Woya, who was chief treasurer in the time of King Ramses II. The tomb is located in Saqqara, a huge necropolis south of Cairo....

[SunkenCiv]

Yup. Figures he’d have a nice tomb, eh?

https://freerepublic.com/focus/chat/4010614/posts

[M Kehoe]

Not only were the Africans eating leafy vegetables/herbs 3500 years ago, they were also smoking them.

I have a Delorean, that’s how I know.

5.56mm

[SunkenCiv]

And watch Biden take that away, what a jerk.

[FlingWingFlyer]

You’d eat “leafy greens” too if you were competing with saber-toothed tigers for some meat.

[SunkenCiv]

These scientists are way off. These ancient humans ate all meat, all the time, but when the large predators of the time showed up, the humans pooped out vegetables. I think we all would.

[outofsalt]

"There’s still no archaeological evidence for the dawn off pancakes though."

Which came first? The pancake or the syrup?

[Covenantor]

So the Nok peoples have a long history of being lousy hunters.

Are researchers suggesting the Nok invented the salad bar?

[SunkenCiv]

Nope, the salad bar was first made possible by Julius Caesar, best known for inventing salad dressing.

[SunkenCiv]

I ordered them with Jemima, but I guess the waitress misunderstood me, because she started screaming obscenities. Oh, wait, this isn't IHOP, it's Tourette's Syndrome Cafe.

[Covenantor]

LOL

well played sir, well played.

[webheart]

Giving credit where credit is due? Not only was mathematics and writing invented in Africa, but also eating cooked green vegetables. Wonderful things we learn every day.

[dfwgator]

You’d eat “leafy greens” too if you were competing with saber-toothed tigers for some meat.

A Tiger? In Africa?