Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Earliest direct evidence of plant processing in prehistoric Saharan pottery

Abstract

The invention of thermally resistant ceramic cooking vessels around 15,000 years ago was a major advance in human diet and nutrition13, opening up new food groups and preparation techniques. Previous investigations of lipid biomarkers contained in food residues have routinely demonstrated the importance of prehistoric cooking pots for the processing of animal products across the world4. Remarkably, however, direct evidence for plant processing in prehistoric pottery has not been forthcoming, despite the potential to cook otherwise unpalatable or even toxic plants2,5. In North Africa, archaeobotanical evidence of charred and desiccated plant organs denotes that Early Holocene hunter-gatherers routinely exploited a wide range of plant resources6. Here, we reveal the earliest direct evidence for plant processing in pottery globally, from the sites of Takarkori and Uan Afuda in the Libyan Sahara, dated to 8200–6400 bc. Characteristic carbon number distributions and δ13C values for plant wax-derived n-alkanes and alkanoic acids indicate sustained and systematic processing of C3/C4 grasses and aquatic plants, gathered from the savannahs and lakes in the Early to Middle Holocene green Sahara.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Exceptionally preserved archaeobotanical remains from the Takarkori rock shelter (Tadrart Acacus, SW Libya), dating from c. 7500 to 4200 bc.
Figure 2: Partial gas chromatograms of trimethylsilylated TLEs from potsherds excavated from the Takarkori rock shelter.
Figure 3: Plot showing range of δ13C values for the alkanoic acids and n-alkane lipids derived from absorbed residues preserved in pottery from the Uan Afuda cave and the Takarkori rock shelter, Libyan Sahara.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Wrangham, R. W., Holland Jones, J., Laden, G., Pilbeam, D. & Conklin-Brittain, N. The raw and the stolen: cooking and the ecology of human origins. Curr. Anth. 40, 567–594 (1999).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Carmody, R. N. & Wrangham, R. W. The energetic significance of cooking. J. Hum. Evol. 57, 379–391 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Sponheimer, M. et al. Isotopic evidence of early hominin diets. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 110, 10513–10518 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Evershed, R. P. et al. Earliest date for milk use in the Near East and southeastern Europe linked to cattle herding. Nature 455, 528–531 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Wandsnider, L. The roasted and the boiled: food composition and heat treatment with special emphasis on pit-hearth cooking. J. Anth. Archaeol. 16, 1–48 (1997).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Mercuri, A. M. Plant exploitation and ethnopalynological evidence from the Wadi Teshuinat area (Tadrart Acacus, Libyan Sahara). J. Archaeol. Sci. 35, 1619–1642 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Zeder, M. A. The broad spectrum revolution at 40: resource diversity, intensification, and an alternative to optimal foraging explanations. J. Anth. Archaeol. 31, 241–264 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. de Menocal, P. et al. Abrupt onset and termination of the African Humid Period: rapid climate responses to gradual insolation forcing. Quat. Sci. Rev. 19, 347–361 (2000).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Dunne, J. et al. First dairying in green Saharan Africa in the fifth millennium BC. Nature 486, 390–394 (2012).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Huysecom, E. et al. The emergence of pottery in Africa during the tenth millennium cal BC: new evidence from Ounjougou (Mali). Antiquity 83, 905–917 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Jordan, P. et al. Modelling the diffusion of pottery technologies across Afro-Eurasia: emerging insights and future research. Antiquity 90, 590–603 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. di Lernia, S. (ed.) in The Uan Afuda Cave: Hunter-Gatherers Societies of Central Sahara 223–237 (Arid Zone Archaeology Monographs 1, All'Insegna del Giglio, 1999).

    Google Scholar 

  13. Biagetti, S. & di Lernia, S. Holocene deposits of Saharan rock shelters: the case of Takarkori and other sites from the Tadrart Acacus Mountains (Southwest Libya). Afric. Archaeol. Rev. 30, 305–328 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Castelletti, L., Castiglioni, E., Cottini, M. & Rottoli, M. in The Uan Afuda Cave: Hunter-Gatherer Societies of Central Sahara (ed. di Lernia, S. ) 131–148 (Arid Zone Archaeology Monographs 1, All'Insegna del Giglio, 1999).

    Google Scholar 

  15. Olmi, L. et al. in Windows on the African Past: Current approaches to African Archaeobotany (eds Fahmy, A., Kahlheber, S. & D'Andrea, A. C. ) 175–184 (Breitschuh & Kock, 2011).

    Google Scholar 

  16. Eglinton, G. & Hamilton, R. J. Leaf epicuticular waxes. Science 156, 1322–1335 (1967).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Diefendorf, A. F., Freeman, K. H., Wing, S. L. & Graham, H. V. Production of n-alkyl lipids in living plants and implications for the geologic past. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 75, 7472–7485 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Ficken, K. J., Li, B., Swain, D. L. & Eglinton, G. An n-alkane proxy for the sedimentary input of submerged/floating freshwater aquatic macrophytes. Org. Geochem. 31, 745–749 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Mills, J. S. & White, R. The Organic Chemistry of Museum Objects (Butterworth and Co. Ltd, 1994).

    Google Scholar 

  20. Eckey, E. W. Vegetable Fats and Oils (Reinhold, 1954).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  21. Hilditch, T. P. & Williams, P. N. The Chemical Constitution of Natural Fats (Wiley, 1964).

    Google Scholar 

  22. Gurr, M. I. in Lipids: Structure and Function (ed. Stumpf, P. K. ) 205–248 (Academic Press, 1980).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  23. Romanus, K. et al. An evaluation of analytical and interpretative methodologies for the extraction and identification of lipids associated with pottery sherds from the site of Sagalassos, Turkey. Archaeometry 49, 729–747 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Walton, T. J. in Methods in Plant Biochemistry Vol. 4 (eds Harwood, J. L. & Bowyer, J. R. ) 105–158 (Academic Press, 1990).

    Google Scholar 

  25. Maffei, M. Chemotaxonomic significance of leaf wax alkanes in the Gramineae. Biochem. System. Ecol. 24, 53–64 (1996).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Rommerskirchen, F., Plader, A., Eglinton, G., Chikaraishi, Y. & Rullkötter, J. Chemotaxonomic significance of distribution and stable carbon isotopic composition of long-chain alkanes and alkan-1-ols in C4 grass waxes. Org. Geochem. 37, 1303–1332 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Kolattukudy, P. E., Croteau, R. & Buckner, J. S. in Chemistry and Biochemistry of Natural Waxes (ed. Kolattukudy, P. E. ) 289–347 (Elsevier, 1976).

    Google Scholar 

  28. Tuo, J., Wu, C., Zhang, M. & Chen, R. Distribution and carbon isotope composition of lipid biomarkers in Lake Erhai and Lake Gahai sediments on the Tibetan plateau. J. Great Lakes Res. 37, 447–455 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Cremaschi, M. et al. Takarkori rock shelter (SW Libya): an archive of Holocene climate and environmental changes in the central Sahara. Quat. Sci. Rev. 101, 36–60 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Boutton, T. W. in Carbon Isotope Techniques (eds Coleman, D. C. & Fry, B. ) 173–185 (Academic Press, 1991).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  31. Bi, X., Sheng, G., Liu, X., Li, C. & Fu, J. Molecular and carbon and hydrogen isotopic composition of n-alkanes in plant leaf waxes. Org. Geochem. 36, 1405–1417 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  32. Keeley, J. E. & Sandquist, D. R. Carbon: freshwater plants. Plant Cell Environ. 15, 1021–1035 (1992).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. Gott, B. Cumbungi, Typha species: a staple Aboriginal food in Southern Australia. Austr. Aboriginal Stud. 1999, 33–50 (1999).

  34. Vizgirdas, R. & Rey-Vizgirdas, E. Wild Plants of the Sierra Nevada (Univ. Nevada Press, 2006).

    Google Scholar 

  35. Hillman, G. C. in Foraging and Farming: the Evolution of Plant Exploitation (eds Harris, D. R. & Hillman, G. C. ) 207–239 (Unwin Hyman, 1989).

    Google Scholar 

  36. Haaland, R. Porridge and pot, bread and oven: food ways and symbolism in Africa and the Near East from the Neolithic to the present. Cambridge Arch. J. 17, 165–182 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank the UK Natural Environment Research Council for the Life Science Mass Spectrometry Facility (contract no. R8/H10/63; http://www.lsmsf.co.uk) and a PhD studentship to J.D (NE/1528242/1). We also thank H. Grant of the NERC Life Sciences Mass Spectrometry Facility (Lancaster node) for stable isotopic characterisation of reference standards and derivatizing agents. Sapienza University of Rome (Grandi Scavi di Ateneo) and the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs (DGSP) are thanked for funding for the Italian Archaeological Mission in the Sahara to S.d.L. Libyan colleagues of the Department of Archaeology in Tripoli and Ghat, in particular S. Agab, Tripoli, are also thanked. Two PhD students, L. Olmi and R. Fornaciari, who studied the wild cereal archaeobotanical record, are also thanked. This study is dedicated to the memory of the remarkable scholar G. Eglinton, FRS, who died in March 2016. The findings of this paper rest in large part on the use of plant leaf wax biomarkers pioneered 50 years ago in Eglinton, G. & Hamilton, R.J. (1967)16.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

R.P.E. and S.d.L. conceived and planned the project. J.D., R.P.E., S.d.L. and A.M.M. wrote the paper. J.D. performed analytical work and data analysis. S.d.L. designed and directed the excavations and field sampling; A.M.M. studied the archaeobotanical materials and S.B. performed analytical work. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Richard P. Evershed.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Tables 1–2, Supplementary Figures 1–6. Equation 1. (PDF 751 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Dunne, J., Mercuri, A., Evershed, R. et al. Earliest direct evidence of plant processing in prehistoric Saharan pottery. Nature Plants 3, 16194 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nplants.2016.194

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nplants.2016.194

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing