A bibliographic review on the evolution of the diet of Homo genus during the Pleistocene
Keywords:
food, prehistory, hominizationAbstract
The main objective of this paper is to carry out a bibliographic review on the dietary patterns of the genus Homo during the Pleistocene. Our reading hypothesis indicates that the diet of this period was much more diverse than usually thought, that the culinary
options went beyond mere survival and acquired a true gourmet sense and that many of the foods and techniques that are supposed to have appeared in the Holocene already have an important antecedent in this stage. The search for papers was carried out using Google Scholar platform, fundamentally because it is the most complete and updated database in terms of scientific texts. The Pleistocene begins approximately 2.6 million years ago and ends approximately 12 thousand years ago. During this time, all the species of the genus Homo appeared. Food complexity does not appear after the emergence of agriculture, but rather it has been present since long before the Holocene. This complexity is not only evident in the diversity of food sources consumed, but also in the preparation and, therefore, in the cooking
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