Heat and Homes

Food History
Early humans had been using fire for thousands of years, but it was the Cro-Magnons named after the cave in southern France in which their bones were founds – who discovered that if certain stone, iron pyrites, is stuck with a flint it gives off a spark hot enough to ignite tinder. So a quicker, surer way of starting a fire than striking two sticks together was at hand.

The hearth was a focus of family life, both in summer – when many people live in tents of wood and hide – and in winter, when they sheltered in cave. As well as providing heating and light, the hearth was used for cooking pot, and fire was used to ward off hungry predators which might attack the community. Gathering fuel for the fire and building up a good stock for the winter were essential chores. In most places this meant collecting wood, but on the plains of Eastern Europe and Russian, where trees were scarce, bone were used d instead. Bones do not burn easily, so shallow channel were due to draw more air into the bottom of earth.
Food History

Ancient People Near the Sea

Food History
Cro-Magnons who lived near the sea or who visited the coats had a rich source of food – fish, seals, sea birds, shellfish and seaweed. Those who dwelt inland could enjoy fresh water fish such as salmon, trout, eel and pike.

One of their ingenious inventions was the gorge – a baited sliver of bone attached to a line of leather or sinew. When a fish took the bait the gorge stuck in its throat and it was hauled in nets made from plant fibers or leather, have not survived, but the existence of small, grooved stones that could have been net weights suggest that nets were in use. Fishers also invented the leister, a three pronged spear. A fish was impaled on the central straight prong and curved prongs on either side stopped it wriggling off.

In the spring the salmon raced upstream to spawn. This was a gastronomic bonanza for Cro-Magnons, as huge deposits of scales and bones found in some places confirm. Salmon could be speared as they struggle through the shallows, and the crafty Cro-Magnons may well have piled up stones to form a trap. The fish would swim through the funnel-like entrance into pool from which there was no exit, except on the prongs a leister. Much of the catch was then dried or smoked and stored.
Food History

Cro-Magnon Hunting for Food

Food History
The Cro-Magnon were highly skilled and inventive hunters, who varied their techniques according the season and prey. Probably the men did most of the hunting for the very practical reason that most adult women would have small children to care of – a crying baby would scare off the game before had even started.

A band of hunters might sneak upon herd of reindeer, bison or horses, pick out a likely victim, run it down and spear it to death. However, a lot might go wrong with this approach. A slight change of wind or a tiny sound would betray the hunters’ present, and the herd would run. To get really close to large animal, particularly one with horn, was especially dangerous; approaching a wounded one was doubly so.

The Cro-Magnons’ chances of success and safety were increased by invention of spear thrower and the bow and arrow. Both enabled the hunters to launch their attack from a greater and safer distance.
Food History

Animal for Hunting

Food History
As with all living creatures, the most pressing daily need for our ancestors was to obtain an adequate supply of food. This food was obtained by a mixture of hunting, fishing and gathering from the larder provided by nature.
The Cro-Magnons – the early humans Europe and Russia – were nomads. This does not mean they wandered aimlessly day after day. It is more likely that bands of a few families would travel regularly through a fairly well-defined territory on seasonal migrations. They might have summer and winter bases and move between the two in spring and autumn, drawing on different food resources according to the season.

Bones found in their campsites reveal that the Cro-Magnons hunted a wide variety of games including reindeer, bison, horse, deer, elk, wild, cattle, ibex, and even the majestic woolly mammoth and woolly rhino. To these must be added smaller game such as hare, and birds such as ptarmigan, grouse, and water fowl.
Food History