Although scientists have found evidence of charred bones around human fires that burned as long as 1.5 million years ago, that evidence hasn’t been enough to prove that the humans were cooking. However, a study published today (November 14) in Nature Ecology & Evolution argues that humans were cooking fish at least as far back as 780,000 years ago. The authors’ discovery of apparently cooked fish teeth would be the earliest documentation of the food preparation method by hominins, the scientists write in the study.
The discovery is the culmination of nearly 16 years of work at a site called Gesher Benot Ya’aqov, reports the Agence France-Presse. A 780,000-year-old settlement located in Northern Israel, the site contained a motherlode of freshwater fish remains and evidence of hearths likely made by Homo erectus, the authors write in the study. In areas of the site that contained “phantom” hearths, or areas only ...
