What was on the menu for Stone Age cooks? The results are surprising

By Sam Peters, CNN

(CNN) — Ancient European hunter-gatherers were far more advanced in their cooking methods than previously thought, a new study has found, combining ingredients in “remarkably selective” ways, with cuisines even varying by region.

Researchers analyzed the burnt remains of food stuck to the side of pots, called “foodcrusts,” and found that Stone Age cooks used a range of plant and animal products to create meals.

The team’s findings, published Wednesday in the journal PLOS ONE, provide new insights into the diets of Europeans who lived between 5,000 and 8,000 years ago.

Researchers analyzed 85 pottery sherds, of which 58 had identifiable fragments of plants.

The pottery came from 13 sites, spanning from modern-day Denmark to what is now Ivanovo oblast in eastern Russia.

The team first found plant remnants in the foodcrust and then, using microscopes, looked for samples that were well preserved enough that they were able to identify the plants through their cell structure.

The initial research revealed some plants that had been used, so the team cooked some of the “recipes,” Oliver Craig, a co-author of the study and a professor of archaeological science at the University of Leeds, England, told CNN.

They combined carp and viburnum berries, and oak-leaved goosefoot and beet, and cooked them in replica clay pots over a fire. This gave them new samples with which to compare the ancient foodcrusts.

The standard narrative around hunter-gatherers was that they were “just putting stuff in the fire,” said Craig.

Most analyzes of hunter-gatherer diets focused on the fatty residue left on cookware and the bones of slaughtered animals, Craig said, meaning researchers knew a lot about the hunters, but little about the gatherers.

“(Lead study author) Lara (González Carretero) simply looked where no one else had,” Craig said.

The new study shows that Stone Age people had “sophisticated ways of cooking foods,” he said, and that they were “remarkably selective” in which foods they cooked.

These hunter-gatherers “had deep knowledge of all the roots, tubers, fruits and berries that… (were) available to them,” Craig said.

But when the team analyzed what was in the pot, they only found a limited variety.

“We’re only finding a few things that are being picked out, perhaps because they taste nice, or they go well with other foods,” Craig said.

Regional cuisines

Not every region had the same tastes. Despite ingredients being available across Europe, the study found that there were “distinct preparations” in certain regions.

A combination of freshwater fish and wild grass was particularly popular near the border of Ukraine and Russia, whilst further east, in central modern-day Russia, they seemed to prefer amaranth plants with their fish.

Danish hunter-gatherers also liked amaranth, though they favored the plant’s flowers.

“It is a conscious choice,” Craig said.

Some of these trends have carried over to the modern day, researchers said.

Viburnum berries, also known as guelder rose berries, which were found in multiple samples, are still eaten across Poland, Ukraine and Russia.

The idea that Stone Age people relied on hunting is “fundamentally wrong” said Mark Robinson, an associate professor of archaeology at the University of Exeter, England, who was not involved in the study.

Instead, research now suggests that they had a “sophisticated approach” to using plants, Robinson told CNN.

Despite some of the ingredients identified in the pots still being used today, Robinson pointed out that “we still know remarkably little about how foods were combined into meals or how culinary traditions and recipes developed over time.”

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