For much of human history, women and children kept camps alive by turning bitter, inedible plants into safe, high-calorie meals when hunting failed.

A new analysis shows that this daily processing and cooking task food It helped reshape the human body and social life. Explore how fire, tools, and cooperation, driven by women, changed human teeth, guts, and even the way humans coexist.

Survival work in the rainy season

During Venezuela’s rainy season, the Savannah Pume, a small, mobile group of indigenous hunter-gatherers living in the steppe plains of western Venezuela, venture out into the flooded savannah to dig plump tubers out of the shallow sand.

From camp records, anthropologist Dr. Karen L. Kramer said: University of Utahcount the people served.

Kramer’s notes state that women and children peeled the roots, sliced ​​them, soaked them, and roasted them until the bitterness disappeared.

after that workpeople ate the food their bodies could process. This supports why processing is important in evolution.

plants need preparation

Peeling and soaking transform the tubers from bitter to edible, and such operations count as food processing.

The treatment destroys tough plant cells and flushes out irritating chemicals, allowing the intestines to absorb more energy with less effort.

Grinding, pounding, and slow cooking also shorten chewing time, reducing the amount of time your jaw is constrained to move.

Once food is easier to swallow, the camp can rely on roots and seeds, even if meat is scarce.

Working around the hearth

Beyond archeology recordafter about 400,000 years, fire marks become much more common and cooking becomes easier to detect.

The heat softens the food near the hearth, and the light extends the working time, so many women spent about three hours a day processing the food.

At the Savannah Pume camp, women were responsible for 84 percent of the hearth activities, from cooking to making tools.

If archaeologists treat every piece of debris and layer of ash as the remains of a hunter, women’s daily labor can disappear from the story.

Evolution of human mastication

Modern humans chew far less than other apes, a difference that suggests they have been eating soft foods for many years.

Ann analysis It is estimated that humans chew for about 35 minutes per day, while chimpanzees chew for 4.5 hours.

There is less time to crush hard fibers, teeth and jaws may shrink, and heavy masticatory muscles no longer dominate the entire face.

This change saved time and energy, but the much softer modern diet also meant less room for crowded teeth to grow.

more energy from fire

fire Heat turns many raw foods into calories that your body can actually use, so it does more than just warm your hands.

Experiment with one study We showed that the energy gained from cooking and pounding meat and starches is increased compared to eating them raw.

Heat loosens proteins and softens starches, allowing the stomach and intestines to complete digestion faster and with less effort.

If a group relies on fire for daily fuel, the loss of coal or tools can quickly reduce available food.

Diet and social ties

Adults cannot hunt, gather, process, cook, or care for children alone, so people divide and share tasks.

a paper He argued that processed foods create daily time constraints that can only be solved by working together.

“The fundamentally cooperative nature of humans… human “Their diet is markedly different from that of our closest primate relatives,” Kramer wrote.

When food is dependent on the hands of many people, stories that treat hunting as the sole driving force miss what has kept the population alive.

children acquire skills

In many foraging camps, food processing began early, so children did not wait until adulthood to become useful.

While adults dug holes and hunted, children helped gather firewood, carry water, and roast or grind food near the fire.

Working side by side, the young people learned every day which roots needed soaking and which tools would make the work faster.

Through consistent practice, skills and trust were built, and adults were freed to travel further in search of higher-value foods.

food stored for winter

Dried meat, smoked fish, and preserved roots kept families alive during the cold season when fresh plants disappeared.

Drying or smoking removes moisture from food and slows down microbial activity, giving it a safe shelf life of weeks to months.

“Processing food expands and diversifies our diets, allowing us to thrive in different environments,” Kramer writes.

Once food reserves survive the winter shortages, groups can return to hunting and gathering without having to risk everything for the day.

traces of daily work

For decades, many evolutionary stories have centered on meat and male hunters because of the well-preserved bones and weapons.

Plant preparations often leave behind grindstones, cracked shells, and pieces of burnt food, which may seem unnoticeable until you consider who actually prepared the meal.

Tracing the remains of hearths as work sites can link stone tools not only to hunting, but also to slicing, pounding, and roasting.

This approach preserves the integrity of science by matching artifacts with everyday chores, even if those chores are not performed with fanfare.

broader origin story

Food processing, fire, and collaboration were helpful. homo sapiens Eat more variety of foods to survive the lean season.

By treating grindstones, hearth ashes, and meal preparation as evidence of evolution, researchers can reconstruct a story that includes women.

This study academic world.

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