Around 23k BC in the fertile crescent

27 lundi Avr 2015

Posted by Quentin Lorin Dardaillon in Une vaisselle néolithique à fonctions plurielles

Around 23k BC in the fertile crescent, towards the very last days of the late paleolithic period, homo sapiens (i.e. modern man) processed wild cereal grains for his sustenance[1]. Later on over the early neolithic period (10k BC) corresponding to the natoufian culture, he gradually shifted from a subsistence-based economy involving hunting and gathering to an economy of production, based on livestock farming and agriculture. In the same way he had observed, followed and anticipated the migratory patterns of his preys, he then took in the growth cycles of wild cereals. And to do so, he has extended his stays in one spot. And these new habits will have noticeable repercussions on different levels.

First of all, this will induce changes in his food habits ; until now, homo sapiens had a moderate omnivorous diet, with an inclination towards the consumption of meat (however not to the extent of his cousin of neandertal). From now on he changes his diet and grows accustomed to eating cereals, leguminous vegetables and fruits. Livestock farming provides him with milk and incidently cheese[2]. This shift in food habits will induce changes on his very digestive system. Altogether his health will be affected by a long range exposure to livestock.

Subsequently, a change in his food habits will have an impact on the consistency of his meals. Modern man is used to eat soups and broths prepared in goatskins since the Solutrean culture (22k – 17k BC), if not since the Gravettian age (28k – 22k BC), now is the time for him to improve his recipes with new ingredients such as leguminous vegetables and cereals. He is consuming the latter as gruels, porridges and pancakes. This will induce a modification in the way he prepared his meals as we will see later on.

Last, although it may seem oddly unnecessary, homo sapiens as of now seeks ways to store his food. Which is a perfectly understandable desire for when he used to lead a mostly nomadic existence. He then must have packed some food to go in order to ensure himself sustenance, in case he wasn’t able to find anything to feed upon for a while. But since he started growing and farming his own means of sustenance, he virtually has had as much food as he wanted. Why should he feel the need to store food even though he could enjoy it fresh ? Seemingly was it the price he had to pay, when he went from hunting and gathering to farming : his livelihood now depended on the quality of the harvest. Hence the need to store his sustenance.

Soups and broths prepared in goatskins were cooked by addition of white-hot stones from the hearth. And then the preparation only needed a stirring device, possibly presenting a flat or a shallow end to ease the service into an element of consumption ware. Food consistency also changed, wether meals were gruels or pancakes. The basic ingredients (i.e. cereals) were grinded into a coarse flour. Then, the lesser liquid you added, the closer to the pancake, the more you added, the closer to the gruel. And the grinding is one new addition the prepartory stage of the meals. It required a growingly sophisticated set of cooking tool throughout the ages.

Matériel de préparation culinaire néolithique retrouvé en Suisse Historical Museum Bern, cliché Sandstein©

Neolithic preparatory cooking set found in Switzerland Historical Museum Bern, picture Sandstein©

As far as the neolithic period is concerned it consisted in a basic grinding set composed of an unmoveable and abrasive flat surface on which the grain is spread out in order to be grinded, and of an element moved by hand which will be repeatedly rolled over the grain until the desired consistency of flour is provided. The preparation is then poured into a recipient and mixed with more or less liquid depending on the desired outcome. As for the cooking, pancakes on the one hand only required at first a spot on a flat slab of stone laid by the fire. But on the other hand, gruels and porridges required a much slower and regulated heat source. And this led to the creation of the first proto-cooking pots in southern Europe around 7k – 6,5k BC.