Continuing her scientific studies at Liverpool University in England, Turkish scientist Dr. Ceren Kabukçu and her team discovered the oldest remains of cooked food in history. The discovery took place in the headlines of the world press.
Discovering the gourmet recipes of Neanderthals in a sense, "Our findings indicate that a wide variety of plant seeds go together and go through a multi-step process like a recipe," said Dr. Kabukcu, revealing that nutrition is not just a biological need. Continuing her studies at the Department of Archeology at the University of Liverpool, Dr. Ceren Kabukçu described the discovery process of the 70,000-year-old specimens they obtained as follows:
"Our results come from two separate caves. One of them is Franchthi Cave in Greece and the other is Shanidar Cave in Northern Iraq. The samples we found in Franchthi Cave were homo sapiens (anatomically modern humans) hunter-gatherers about 11-13 thousand years ago. corresponds to its location.
Shanidar samples were used in two main periods. We obtained samples from the later homo sapiens (about 40,000 years old) phase and the earlier Neanderthal (around 70,000 years) phases."
Stating that the samples obtained from the excavation sites are resistant to decay because they are charred (carbonized), Kabukçu stated that the samples are preserved in the soil for thousands of years.
Each sample obtained was examined in detail with an electron microscope in the laboratory by Kabukçu and her team, and food was identified from cell structures.
Dr. Kabukçu that they were surprised by the results, said: "Our findings indicate that a wide variety of plant seeds go through a multi-step process like a recipe. For this reason, we commented that the use of herbs belonged to a more complex and unique culinary culture in this period as well.
I guess people in the past are not automatically seen enough as creative, cultural, 'human' beings. We also brought an interpretation beyond the botanical names of the plants we found, that nutrition and eating and drinking are not just a biological need."
Emphasizing that 70 thousand years ago, people's ancestors had a developed culinary culture, Dr. Kabukçu commented on her findings on this issue as follows:
"The reason we call it more modern is that we put forward the thesis that herbs are used as spices, and data on culinary culture such as 'recipe', such as multi-stage (for example, soaking legumes in water, then grinding or crushing and then adding some herbs to give flavor) "For example, we found that plants such as wild mustard and menengiç (wild pistachio) were mixed with these foods in the remains of Shanidar homo sapiens period."
Interview
Q- Why did you choose to work in the field of archaeobotany?
Answer: I didn't start college with archeology. Actually, I was a scientist, and then I realized that when I was in high school, I was actually interested in the social sciences. I chose a university abroad where I would study both Anthropology and Economics. I was a little lucky, I found a scholarship, so I went. I did my undergraduate education at USA/Ithaca College. Again, there was a female teacher working on ethnobotany and the culture of cooking, so I became interested. Then, as I read about the archaeological applications of the event, I realized that I was actually very interested and wanted to continue from that. That's when I actually learned to practice archaeobotany while I was doing my master's at Trent University in Canada. Normally, I had received training in geographic informatics and I wanted to continue from there. It was a coincidence that I continued in this field. Later, when I came to Liverpool University in England for my doctorate, I had a smart archaeobotanical project and I worked mostly on wood-coal.