Phytoliths stabilize the walls of plant cells. Even if all organic matter decays after the death of the cells, the phytoliths survive the decomposition process unchanged. And in many cases their appearance tells the experts which plant genus or species they come from.
How different did the Neanderthals eat?
Neanderthal tartar from various European sites was the basis for the study by a team led by Robert Power and Amanda Henry, which was published in the Journal of Human Evolution in 2014. At that time both worked at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig. The researchers wanted to know: was plant consumption just an occasional local fad among Neanderthals? And: Did the Neanderthals in Spain eat differently than those in Croatia, Italy or Greece, depending on the regional spectrum of species? Didn’t they exist somewhere, the exclusive meat eaters?
Amanda Henry sums it up: “We did not discover any geographical or climatic differences in the number of plant species consumed.” As the examined tartar samples showed, it did not matter where the Neanderthals in question had lived; a similar proportion of carbohydrate-rich plants was on their menu everywhere.
According to the current state of knowledge, their plant diet ranged from dates in western Asia, proven at the site of Shanidar in northern Iraq, to four frequently used plant families with very starchy seeds, rhizomes (stems) or bulbs in Europe. This included sweet grasses (Triticeae), i.e. wild grain, which also includes the precursors of wheat and rye. In addition, early humans ate legumes (Fabaceae), these are the wild forms of lamiaceae such as beans, peas and lentils. There were also lilies (Liliaceae)which include, for example, daylily and martagon lily, and water lilies (Nympheaceae)which are primarily the seeds of pond and water lilies.
How early humans actually consumed poisonous water lilies
Anyone who often leafs through plant guides may have flinched at the last point. Water lilies are described as poisonous in all parts of the plant. Henry explains: “Some European water lily plants contain a toxin, but the level varies with the season. And it can be rendered harmless by cooking or other forms of processing.”
“You don’t need pits or stones to cook. Boiling in a water-filled animal skin hanging over the fire is equally effective.”(Amanda Henry, Archaeologist, Leiden University)
For the researcher, there is no question that the Neanderthals did in fact cook at least some of their food plants: “In Neanderthal tartar, we detected starch grains with morphological changes that were caused by heating in water. In other words: by cooking.«