Neanderthals stored animal bones to eat marrow when needed
Finding evidence that humans stored marrow inside bones for later use
Scientists in Israel say they have found evidence that Neanderthals stored animal bones in order to eat the marrow inside them at a later time.
According to experts, this is the oldest evidence that humans who lived between 200,000 and 420,000 years ago had an idea of planning for the future in the event of any emergency.
And it was not known in the past that the ancient man was able to make plans to provide his needs for food.
The researchers analyzed bone samples taken from Qasim Cave near Tel Aviv, where they found cut marks on the outer surface of most of the bones examined, indicating that they were being stored for later use.
Scientists are likely that these cutting marks reveal that primitive man had to make a greater effort in removing the skin that had dried on the stored bones.
Cut marks were found in 78 percent of the more than 80,000 animal bone samples analyzed.
"Bone marrow was an important source of nutrition in prehistoric times," said Ran Baraki, a professor at Tel Aviv University in Israel.
"So far, evidence has indicated that humans in ancient times consumed marrow after discarding the soft tissue," he added.
Humans always hunted in ancient times in this region the "Fallo" deer.
Intraosseous marrow after 6 weeks of storage
According to Jordi Rossell, a professor at the Spanish University of "Rubira e Verijili", the Neanderthals used to take the limbs and skulls of prey to the caves while eating the rest of the carcass of meat and grease at the hunting site.
Russell said, "We found bones from deer legs that were hunted in the past, especially the metatarsals, and they showed cutting marks that were not similar to the marks left by the process of removing the skin immediately after hunting, which means that these bones were kept covered with skin for a longer period."
The researchers simulated conditions in the cave and found that the marrow extracted from the bones remained edible for about nine weeks after the prey was caught.
Source: websites