Ok, not exactly physics related, but here’s something I found when I was trawling through some science articles today: Neanderthals used to eat stomach goop. Recent evidence collected from the nearly fossilized tartar build-up on the surface of Neanderthal teeth indicates that our hairy cousins used to eat the partly-digested contents of porcupine stomachs. Gross right?
Well not to most people, as it turns out. Stomach contents, referred to nowadays as “chyme”, is actually considered a delicacy in many countries. It is, in fact, still served in Rome, in the dish called rigatoni con la Pajata which consists of pasta and segments of calf-liver with the contents left in. Also, until at least the 1890s the Inuit people of Canada and Alaska ate reindeer chyme, fresh out of their hunting kills, as reported by a Norwegian explorer who also reported that the stuff was actually fairly consumable, and had the consistency of a lumpy stew. It’s no surprise, then, that Neanderthal’s palate would have taken just as quickly to such a source of sustinence. However, upon further examination, something rather surprising was discovered. Apparently the cave-men weren’t dining on porcupine chyme just for the interesting flavor.
As it turns out, the contents of the average porcupine diet contain medicinal ingredients. Plants such as yarrow and chamomile, which are typically known to be either inedible or at least unpalatable, were found in tartar build-up, suggesting that the Neanderthals might have sought out porcupines for self-medication rather than simple snacking. The Inuit’s also seemed to consume chyme not just for the calories, but because it reindeer stomachs are a source of plant matter in a fairly plantless landscape. Rather than hunting the green stuff across the tundra themselves, they let the reindeer do the hard work and then harvested the veggies along with the rest of the deer.
Although it might initially sound repulsive, the more you think about it the more stomach goop seems to be a pretty reasonable and not altogether inconceivable meal choice. Not to say I’m about to make any serious changes to my diet. I just thought it was interesting to see the relationships that resulted in such an indirect kink in the food chain.
