The Caveman’s Grill

posted at 4:22 pm on August 27, 2007 by Bryan
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Barbecuing: So easy a caveman could do it.

Either modern humans were in Israel over 200,000 years ago, or our now-extinct ancestors behaved a lot like us when they hunted and cooked, suggest artifacts and bones from a newly excavated cave.

Together, the remains paint a picture of relatively sophisticated hunting and food preparation at the site, called Misliya Cave, in Mount Carmel, Israel.

According to lead author Reuven Yeshurun, the cave exhibits “the full array of modern hunting behavior.”

This behavior included “systematic hunting of large, prime-age animals, transport of the animals — or parts thereof — to the site, systematic butchery in order to extract meat and marrow, and roasting the meat,” Yeshurun, a University of Haifa archaeologist, told Discovery News.

He and colleagues Guy Bar-Oz and Mina Weinstein-Evron found “thousands of flint flakes, blades and tools, many of which could have been used for butchering large carcasses.”

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For the study, the researchers used a stereoscopic microscope to search for telltale marks on the bones and tools. They discovered an abundance of butchery and hammerstone marks.

The marks, along with the method in which the bones were split and evidence of burning, suggest the animals were first dismembered, with larger pieces roasted over a fire. Long bones were then filleted and broken, probably to allow the diners to extract marrow. When the feast was over, cleaned bones appear to have been tossed into the fire.

Is it just me, or is there a huge “Duh!” factor about this story? What did they expect to find — cavemen popping stuffed jalapenos in the toaster oven?

In other, totally unrelated science news, there’s a lunar eclipse happening Tuesday morning. The Western and Pacific Northwest of the US will have the best views. Women and children are sure to be hardest hit. Just because.

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