Archaeologists have discovered barbecue leftovers dating back to 7,700 years ago in the Stone Age, in the valley of the River Tjonger, the Netherlands.
According the Journal of Archaeological Science, the barbeque feast was held 1,000 years before the first farmers arrived in the region with their domestic cattle.
Studies showed that the prehistoric consumers started with the bone marrow and then went for the ribs.
The leftovers, scientists say, belong to a female aurochs, a wild Eurasian ox larger than today's cows.
"The animal was either caught in a pitfall trap and then clubbed on the head, or shot with a bow and arrow with flint point," said co-author and associate professor of archaeozoology at the University of Groningen, Wietske Prummel.
Prummel and colleague Marcel Niekus found a flint blade near the aurochs bones which they believe was used to cut the animal's legs off to suck out the bone marrow.
Scientists say the consumers skinned the animal, meticulously separated the meat from the bones and reserved the skin and large hunks of the meat.
Burn marks also revealed that the hunters cooked the meaty ribs over an open fire at the site, "their reward for the successful kill," Prummel said.
"The people who killed the animal lived during the Late Mesolithic (the latter part of the middle Stone Age),” said Niekus.
“They were hunter-gatherers and hunting game was an important part of their subsistence activities," he added.
Aurochs was the main food source for people of the Stone Age, and gradually became extinct.
"It became extinct due to the destruction of the habitat of the aurochs since the arrival of the first farmers in Europe about 7500 years ago," Prummel said, adding, "These farmers used the area inhabited by aurochs for their dwellings, arable fields and meadows. The aurochs gradually lost suitable habitat,"
The last aurochs died in 1627 at a zoo in Poland.
Source: Press TV [June 28, 2011]
According the Journal of Archaeological Science, the barbeque feast was held 1,000 years before the first farmers arrived in the region with their domestic cattle.
Studies showed that the prehistoric consumers started with the bone marrow and then went for the ribs.
The leftovers, scientists say, belong to a female aurochs, a wild Eurasian ox larger than today's cows.
"The animal was either caught in a pitfall trap and then clubbed on the head, or shot with a bow and arrow with flint point," said co-author and associate professor of archaeozoology at the University of Groningen, Wietske Prummel.
Prummel and colleague Marcel Niekus found a flint blade near the aurochs bones which they believe was used to cut the animal's legs off to suck out the bone marrow.
Scientists say the consumers skinned the animal, meticulously separated the meat from the bones and reserved the skin and large hunks of the meat.
Burn marks also revealed that the hunters cooked the meaty ribs over an open fire at the site, "their reward for the successful kill," Prummel said.
"The people who killed the animal lived during the Late Mesolithic (the latter part of the middle Stone Age),” said Niekus.
“They were hunter-gatherers and hunting game was an important part of their subsistence activities," he added.
Aurochs was the main food source for people of the Stone Age, and gradually became extinct.
"It became extinct due to the destruction of the habitat of the aurochs since the arrival of the first farmers in Europe about 7500 years ago," Prummel said, adding, "These farmers used the area inhabited by aurochs for their dwellings, arable fields and meadows. The aurochs gradually lost suitable habitat,"
The last aurochs died in 1627 at a zoo in Poland.
Source: Press TV [June 28, 2011]