在17萬年前的洞穴中發(fā)現的古代烤根菜

在17萬年前的洞穴中發(fā)現的古代烤根菜

Cavemen did not eat nearly as much meat as we thought, according to the recent discovery of ancient root vegetables.

根據最近發(fā)現的古代根類蔬菜，穴居人吃的肉幾乎沒有我們想象的那么多。

Scientists have dated charred plant stems found in a South African cave to be nearly 170,000 years old, a study published Friday in the journal Science finds.

周五發(fā)表在《科學》(Science)雜志上的一項研究發(fā)現，科學家們在南非一個洞穴中發(fā)現的燒焦的植物莖干的年代接近17萬年。

Lead author Lyn Wadley, of the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, and her team discovered a charcoal pile within the rock shelter. After years of microscopic analysis, they confirmed that its ash layer contained hundreds of plants.

研究報告的第一作者、南非威特沃特斯蘭德大學的琳恩·瓦德利和她的研究小組在巖石掩體內發(fā)現了一堆木炭。經過多年的顯微分析，他們證實了火山灰層中含有數百種植物。

The discovery represents rare proof of prehistoric humans’ consumption of carbohydrate-rich roasted veggies. It also shows that early people were actually healthy in their eating habits.

這一發(fā)現為史前人類食用富含碳水化合物的烤蔬菜提供了罕見的證據。研究還表明，早期人們的飲食習慣實際上是健康的。

“I think people were eating a very balanced diet, a combination of carbohydrates and proteins,” Wadley tells the New Scientist. Despite the common notion that Stone Age people ate a lot of meat, Wadley says her findings help prove that they actually had a veggie-rich diet.

“我認為人們的飲食非常均衡，碳水化合物和蛋白質的結合，”Wadley告訴《新科學家》雜志。盡管人們普遍認為石器時代的人吃很多肉，Wadley說她的發(fā)現有助于證明他們實際上有一個富含蔬菜的飲食。