The turtle is not a highly valued delicacy, except in East Asia , where the soup made with its meat is considered a delicacy , something with which the ancestors of Homo sapiens who lived 400,000 years ago in what is today would have agreed. Israel , judging by what was discovered in the Qesem Cave – near Tel Aviv – one of the richest deposits in the world in remains of the Lower Paleolithic .
Recent excavations have found traces of turtles there, indicating that primitive humans included them in their diet . The research sheds light on the relatively varied diet of the early Paleolithic, and on the tools and skills with which our ancestors procured food.
The international team led by the Spanish Ruth Blasco , from the National Center for Research on Human Evolution (CENIEH) , found fragments of tortoise shell and limb bones with cut marks, intentional fracturing and signs of cremation; the remains correspond to different moments throughout a period of 200,000 years .
Cremation marks and patterns suggest that most of the tortoises were roasted within their own shells , directly on the embers, and then fractured and fleshed out with flint tools.
One of the authors of the find is Ran Barkai , from the Department of Archeology at Tel Aviv University . As he says, “until now it was believed that humans at that time ate mostly vegetables and large game, but our find adds a new dimension to what we know about the culture of those people .”
The discovery raises new questions about the lifestyle of the ancient inhabitants of the place. For example, did they divide the work? The researchers think that those in charge of capturing the turtles could have been members of the group who were not involved in the demanding hunting of large and fast animals. That is to say, the children and the elderly .
