An article published on livescience.com has just revealed that our early human ancestors ate “weeds” as a major part of their diet. Are you surprised? I’m not.
The creepy thing is only the way they discovered this un-news fact. They analyzed prehistoric plaque and tartar. You know the sticky, stinky film on your teeth that eventually hardens and has to be picked off by the hygienist. Yep, that stuff. Apparently our ancestors didn’t have good oral hygiene (another big shocker since my kids don’t practice good oral hygiene and they have convenient toothbrushes and tasty toothpaste which they use in science experiments rather than in their mouths).
These archeologists from Spain analyzed the chemical compounds and “microfossils” in the “dental calculus”. This showed that the skeletons (when they were people) ate large quantities of a plant known as “nutsedge”. Nutsedge is a serious problem for people who want to have great lawns. It grows and grows and is nearly impossible to get rid of.
Nutsedge originates from tropical areas – but it is bitter when grown in wet environments. Apparently the same plant is much tastier when grown in drier areas. It has deep, tuberous (roots with tiny potatoes) roots that are hard to pull out – and if you don’t get them all, of course it comes back as all good weeds do.
The ancestors and other hunter-gatherer societies like the Aboriginals in Australia used these plants as a primary source of carbohydrates which were difficult to come by. As a bonus, they contain lysine – an Amino Acid that our bodies cannot manufacture.
Funny thing about that statement and then I will go on but – I was surprised to read that nutsedge – a common weed here in the US, actually grows in Australia – since we don’t have any marsupials or any of those weird insects and snakes that are beautiful but deadly….I digress, back to the article.
Our diets have changed tremendously over just a few centuries. Even today, people who live in harsh environments where there are few carbohydrates – make up the bulk of their calories with fat – and they aren’t….fat that is. Even in places like Alaska, which has no apparent grain industry requires its inhabitants to consume 50 to 90 percent of their calories in fat during the winter when food supplies are scarce – and that is today.
This is partly why a lot of well-thinking people don’t buy the idea that fat is inherently bad. Fat is bad when it is combined with simple carbohydrates and processed sugar so doesn’t that make the sugar and white flour bad and not the fat? Something to consider.
This concept has led to the “paleo diet” rage – which means you eat what cavemen could eat. Meat, fat, a few whole grains, some vegetables, and fruit. Fat was more valuable as it took less energy when harvesting in the right time than grain harvesting did. Think about it – how much energy can you get from a fat Elk – vs how much energy can you get from a bushel of field grain that you had to gather, thresh and grind? The energy expended on a day’s or even a week’s hunt paid off better than the same time spent on grain – so they ate more fatty meat.
Again – is anyone surprised that our ancestors ate weeds? Today people pay a lot of money to eat “organic dandelion salad” and other salad greens that my brother likes to call “sticks and weeds” but normal people refer to as “baby salad greens”. Of course our ancestors ate weeds and they picked nutsedge because it was nutritious and growing voraciously everywhere…..like a weed.
Nutsedge can be eaten as they did as a raw root, roasted and popped over a fire – and has also been shown to be used for its antimicrobial, antimalarial, anti-diabetic and antioxidant properties….as it was in ancient Egypt and Greece. Probably a lot of other places that kept fewer records as well.
So we conclude with two points:
Weeds are only weeds if you don’t want them ruining your yard – but they could also be an emergency food source. If it came down to it, you would probably overlook the fact that you were eating weeds.
The scientists will continue to scrape prehistoric, fossilized plaque off of skeletal remains to reveal some other startling facts such as “they ate local animals”.
If you want to read the actual article, you can do so here: Tooth Tales: Prehistoric Plaque Reveals Early Humans Ate Weeds
The Medicine Teacher 