First Evidence of Substantial Fish Consumption by Chinese
Written by WTJ on July 7, 2009 – 4:46 pm -
When did human start eating fish? Why did human eat fish? As a creature being on the land, it is unlikely for early human to think fish as a source of food.
An international team of research conducted a chemical analysis of protein collagen of a 40,000-year-old bone found at Tianyuan Cave near Beijing. They examined the ratios of isotopes of nitrogen and sulfur, and determined that the bone owner was a regular fish consumer. This study became direct evidence that the earliest modern human who ate fish was back in 40,000 years ago.
This regular fish consumption evidence was before the effective making of fishing equipment. It is believed that the consumption of aquatic resources may be a reflection of pressure from expanding population when modern human emerged across Eurasia.
The study is published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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Tags: anthropology, aquatic, archaeology, beijing, china, collagen, early modern human, Erik Trinkaus, fish, food, human eurasia, paleontology, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, tianyuan, tianyuan cave, washington university | No Comments »
