A multi-national team of researchers has found the first known case of manmade pollution in a cave in Israel. The evidence was found in the hardened dental plaque of 400,000-year-old teeth, which had locked in respiratory irritants, including traces of charcoal— a manmade environmental pollution.
Although scientists estimate that ancient humans began using fire over a million years ago, it had been unclear when humans starting using it on a regular basis, for example, for cooking daily meals. Discoveries in Quesem Cave confirmed that they were doing this at least as early as 300,000 years ago.
The new study, published in Quaternary International, analyzed the dental calculus of the fossilized teeth. The hardened dental plaque, which the researchers say served as a “time capsule”, was remarkably well-preserved as a result of the cave being sealed for 200,000 years.
Trapped within the calculus, the scientists found traces of charcoal from indoor fires.
"This is the first evidence that the world's first indoor BBQs had health-related consequences," said Professor Barkai of Tel Aviv University. "The people who lived in Qesem not only enjoyed the benefits of fire—roasting their meat indoors—but they also had to find a way of controlling the fire—of living with it.”
"This is one of the first, if not the first, cases of manmade pollution on the planet… Progress has a price—and we find possibly the first evidence of this at Qesem Cave 400,000 years ago," he added.
This inhaled environmental pollution may well have had a negative effect on the health of these early humans.
Featured image: Human teeth from Qesem Cave. Credit: Prof. Israel Hershkovitz, Tel Aviv University
By April Holloway
Quesem cave – an archaeological treasure trove
Phys.org reports that researchers from Tel Aviv University, in collaboration with scholars from Spain, the UK, and Australia, found the fossilized teeth at Quesem Cave near Tel Aviv, a Lower Paleolithic archaeological site that was occupied by early humans and has already yielded thousands of fossils and artifacts including blades, knives, flakes, hammer stones, hand-axes, and bones from 4,740 animals, such as deer, aurochs, horses, pigs, goats, tortoises and rhinoceroses.
Qesem Cave near Tel Aviv (Wikimedia Commons)
Earliest evidence of regular fire use
The Quesem Cave has also yielded one of the earliest examples of regular fire use by early humans, as evidenced by large quantities of burnt bone, heated soil lumps, ash deposits, and most significantly, a 300,000-year-old hearth in the center of the cave. An analysis of the hearth revealed that it has been used repeatedly over time.Although scientists estimate that ancient humans began using fire over a million years ago, it had been unclear when humans starting using it on a regular basis, for example, for cooking daily meals. Discoveries in Quesem Cave confirmed that they were doing this at least as early as 300,000 years ago.
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Control of fire by early humans. A diorama showing ancient cavemen in the National Museum of Mongolian History in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. (Wikimedia Commons)
First manmade pollution
The latest finding of fossilized teeth now reveals that these early humans suffered from a poor quality of air as a result of their regular use of fire, probably without adequate ventilation in the cave.The new study, published in Quaternary International, analyzed the dental calculus of the fossilized teeth. The hardened dental plaque, which the researchers say served as a “time capsule”, was remarkably well-preserved as a result of the cave being sealed for 200,000 years.
Trapped within the calculus, the scientists found traces of charcoal from indoor fires.
"This is the first evidence that the world's first indoor BBQs had health-related consequences," said Professor Barkai of Tel Aviv University. "The people who lived in Qesem not only enjoyed the benefits of fire—roasting their meat indoors—but they also had to find a way of controlling the fire—of living with it.”
"This is one of the first, if not the first, cases of manmade pollution on the planet… Progress has a price—and we find possibly the first evidence of this at Qesem Cave 400,000 years ago," he added.
This inhaled environmental pollution may well have had a negative effect on the health of these early humans.
Featured image: Human teeth from Qesem Cave. Credit: Prof. Israel Hershkovitz, Tel Aviv University
By April Holloway
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