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Cheese

When archaeologists consider developments in food production, we tend to think first of the shift from hunting and gathering to the domestication of animals or cereal cultivation, both of which allow food resources to be stored and consumed when needed. Cheese production, however, is now known to date back to at least 7,500 years ago (the 6th millennium BC), suggesting that it too had an important role at this time in some societies. Continue reading →

Fire

The control of fire transformed the lives of our ancestors. Fire extended the length of the day making it possible to use the night-time for social activity; fire kept predators at bay; fire played a vital role in cooking food which allowed human evolution to take the pathway of larger brains which needed quality foods. However, the evidence for fire is elusive and deciding if it was truly controlled or the result of a lightning strike often difficult for archaeologists to determine. Continue reading →