Tel Aviv University researchers have uncovered evidence of that some 400,000 years ago, early Palaeolithic people saved animal bones for up to nine weeks before feasting on them. Deer leg bones, for instance, were kept at the cave, covered in skin, to facilitate the preservation of nutritious marrow for consumption in time of need. Until recently, it was believed that the Palaeolithic people were hunter gatherers who lived hand-to-mouth, consuming whatever they caught that day and enduring long periods of hunger when food sources were scarce. Says researcher Avi Gopher “We show for the first time that 420,000 to 200,000 years ago, prehistoric humans were sophisticated, intelligent and talented enough to know that it was possible to preserve particular bones of animals under specific conditions, and, when necessary, remove the skin, crack the bone and eat the bone marrow.”
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