PNAS doi: 10.1073/pnas.1006993107 Thirty thousand-year-old
evidence of plant food processing Anna Revedin et al. European
Paleolithic subsistence is assumed to have been largely based on
animal protein and fat, whereas evidence for plant consumption
is rare. We present evidence of starch grains from various wild
plants on the surfaces of grinding tools at the sites of
Bilancino II (Italy), Kostenki 16–Uglyanka (Russia), and Pavlov
VI (Czech Republic). The samples originate from a variety of
geographical and environmental contexts, ranging from
northeastern Europe to the central Mediterranean, and dated to
the Mid-Upper Paleolithic (Gravettian and Gorodtsovian). The
three sites suggest that vegetal food processing, and possibly
the production of flour, was a common practice, widespread
across Europe from at least ~30,000 y ago. It is likely that
high energy content plant foods were available and were used as
components of the food economy of these mobile hunter–gatherers.