Abstract
Sima del Elefante, Atapuerca, Spain contains one of the earliest hominin fragments yet known in Europe, dating to 1.2 Ma. Dental calculus from a hominin molar was removed, degraded and analysed to recover entrapped remains. Evidence for plant use at this time is very limited and this study has revealed the earliest direct evidence for foods consumed in the genus Homo. This comprises starchy carbohydrates from two plants, including a species of grass from the Triticeae or Bromideae tribe, meat and plant fibres. All food was eaten raw, and there is no evidence for processing of the starch granules which are intact and undamaged. Additional biographical detail includes fragments of non-edible wood found adjacent to an interproximal groove suggesting oral hygiene activities, while plant fibres may be linked to raw material processing. Environmental evidence comprises spores, insect fragments and conifer pollen grains which are consistent with a forested environment.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Bermúdez de Castro JM et al (2011) The Early Pleistocene human mandible from Sima del Elefante (TE) cave site in Sierra de Atapuerca (Spain): a comparative morphological study. J Hum Evol 61:12–25. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2011.03.005
Carbonell E et al (2008) The first hominin of Europe. Nature 452:465–469. doi:10.1038/nature06815
Carrión JS (2009) Quaternary pollen analysis in the Iberian Peninsula: the value of negative results. Int Arch 25:1e53. doi:10.11141/ia.25.5
Goren-Inbar N, Werker E, Feibel CS. 2002 The Acheulian site of Gesher Benot Ya'aqov, Israel. The wood assemblage. (Oxbow Books, Oxford).
Gowlett JA, Wrangham RW (2013) Earliest fire in Africa: towards the convergence of archaeological evidence and the cooking hypothesis. Azania: Archaeol Res Africa 48(1):5–30. doi:10.1080/0067270X.2012.756754
Hardy K et al (2012) Neanderthal medics? Evidence for food, cooking and medicinal plants entrapped in dental calculus. Naturwissenschaften 99(8):617–626. doi:10.1007/s00114-012-0942-0
Hardy K, Kubiak-Martens L (eds) 2016 Wild harvest: plants in the hominin and pre-agrarian human worlds. Studying scientific archaeology series, 2. Oxbow Books, Oxford.
Hardy K, Radini A, Buckley S, Sarig R, Copeland L, Gopher A, Barkai R (2015a) Dental calculus reveals potential respiratory irritants and ingestion of essential plant-based nutrients at Lower Palaeolithic Qesem Cave Israel. Quat Int Special Volume on Qesem Cave. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2015.04.033
Hardy K, Brand Miller J, Brown KJ, Thomas MG, Copeland L (2015b) The importance of dietary carbohydrate in human evolution. Q Rev Biol 90(3):251–268. doi:10.1086/682587
Huffman MA (2003) Animal self-medication and ethnomedicine: exploration and exploitation of the medicinal properties of plants. P Nutr Soc 62:371–381. doi:10.1079/PNS2003257
Janmaat KR, Ban SD, Boesch C (2013) Taï chimpanzees use botanical skills to discover fruit: what we can learn from their mistakes. Anim Cogn 16(6):851–860
Lieverse AR (1999) Diet and the aetiology of dental calculus. Int J Osteoarchaeol 9:219–232
Martiñón-Torres M et al (2011) Early Pleistocene human mandible from Sima del Elefante (TE) cave site in Sierra de Atapuerca (Spain): a palaeopathological study. J Hum Evol 61(1):1–11. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2011.01.004
McGrew WC (2010a) In search of the last common ancestor: new findings on wild chimpanzees. Philos T Royal Soc B 365:3267–3276. doi:10.1098/rstb.2010.0067
McGrew WC (2010b) Chimpanzee technology. Science 328:579–580. doi:10.1126/science.1187921
McGrew WC, Tutin CEG (1973) Chimpanzee tool use in dental grooming. Nature 241:477–478. doi:10.1038/241477a0
Radini A, Buckley S, Rosas A, Estalrrich A, de la Rasilla M, Hardy K (2016) Neanderthals and trees: non-edible conifer fibres found in Neanderthal dental calculus suggests extra-masticatory activity. Antiquity 90(350):290–301. doi:10.15184/aqy.2016.21
Rodríguez J et al (2011) One million years of cultural evolution in a stable environment at Atapuerca (Burgos, Spain). Quat Sci Rev 30(11):1396–1412. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2010.02.021
Se K, Mei C, Inthavong K, Tu J (2010) Inhalability of micron particles through the nose and mouth. Inhal Toxicol 22:287e300. doi:10.3109/08958370903295204
Singer MS, Mace KC, Bernays EA (2009) Self-medication as adaptive plasticity: increased ingestion of plant toxins by parasitized caterpillars. PLoS One 4(3):e4796. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0004796
Toro-Moyano I et al (2013) The oldest human fossil in Europe from Orce (Spain). J Hum Evol 65:1–9. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2013.01.012
Ungar PS, Grine FE, Teaford MF, Pérez-Pérez A (2001) A review of interproximal wear grooves on fossil hominin teeth with new evidence from Olduvai Gorge. Arch Oral Biol 46:285–292
Walker MJ et al (2016) Combustion at the late Early Pleistocene site of Cueva Negra del Estrecho del Río Quípar (Murcia, Spain). Antiquity 90(351):571–589. doi:10.15184/aqy.2016.91
Warinner C et al (2014) Pathogens and host immunity in the ancient human oral cavity. Nat Gen 46(4):336e344. doi:10.1038/ng.2906
Wiessner PW (2014) Embers of society: firelight talk among the Ju/‘hoansi Bushmen. P Natl Acad Sci USA 111(39):14027–14035. doi:10.1073/pnas.1404212111
Wrangham RW, Conklin-Brittain NL (2003) Cooking as a biological trait. Comp Biochem Phys A 136:35–46. doi:10.1016/S1095-6433(03)00020-5
Acknowledgments
Funding was provided by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. (I+D code HAR2012-3537). Funding was provided by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MINECO): grant numbers CGL2015-65387-C3-1 & 3-P, as well as the Junta de Castilla y León. The sample was taken with the collaboration of CENIEH Staff". (I+D code HAR2012-3537).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Communicated by: Mary T. Silcox
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hardy, K., Radini, A., Buckley, S. et al. Diet and environment 1.2 million years ago revealed through analysis of dental calculus from Europe’s oldest hominin at Sima del Elefante, Spain. Sci Nat 104, 2 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-016-1420-x
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-016-1420-x