10,001 years ago we dined on meat and mush

(Courtesy Joel Janetski/BYU)

Archaeologists and anthropologists at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Utah, USA have been excavating the North Creek Shelter in that state and discovered what was for dinner there 11,000 years ago.

Joel Janetski, PhD, anthropologist and professor at BYU, led the study and explained in a BYU August 23 announcement that, "Ten thousand years ago, there was a change in the technology with grinding stones appearing for the first time. People started to use these tools to process small seeds into flour."

Prior to the grinding technology that produced mush and flour made from "sage, salt bush and grass seeds," the menu supposedly consisted of "duck, beaver and turkey," then "sheep became more common," and "deer was a staple" both pre- and post-mush.

More details of the BYU team's findings are to be published in the August archeology print journal Kiva: http://www.altamirapress.com/rla/journals/kiva/Index.shtml