You might picture Neanderthals as cavemen gnawing on bones around a campfire. Which wouldn't be inaccurate. But Neanderthals may have also dined on roasted vegetables and known a bit about medicinal plants too. So says a study in the journal Naturwissenschaften (The Science of Nature).
談到尼安德塔人,也許你會描繪出這樣的畫面:一位穴居人在篝火前啃骨頭。這種看法并不準確。尼安德塔人可能也吃烤蔬菜,可能也懂一點草藥知識。一項發(fā)表在《自然科學》上的研究如此說到。
Researchers analyzed hardened dental plaque from five Neanderthals found in El Sidrón cave, in northern Spain. Yes, 50,000-year-old dental plaque. And they found a lot lurking between the teeth. Like evidence of nuts, grasses and green veggies, chemical traces of wood smoke, and tiny, intact starch granules, proof Neanderthals ate their carbs.
研究人員分析了五名尼安德塔人硬化的牙菌斑,這五名尼安德塔人遺體在西班牙北部的El Sidrón cave被發(fā)現(xiàn)。這些牙菌斑已存在5萬年了。他們發(fā)現(xiàn)牙齒間潛伏了許多物質(zhì),比如說堅果、青草和綠色蔬菜的殘留物、炊煙的化學蹤跡,還有微小的,完好無損的淀粉顆粒,都證明尼安德塔人也以碳水化合物為食。
And in one individual, they detected compounds found in the medicinal herbs chamomile and yarrow. The herbs have no nutritional value, and since Neanderthals did have the gene to detect the herbs' bitter taste, the researchers speculate that the cave dwellers were munching on them not as food—but to self-medicate. Not too far-fetched, they say, because primates like chimps also use medicinal plants.
在其中一具遺體上,研究人員探測出一種化合物,這種化合物也出現(xiàn)在洋甘菊和蓍草等草藥內(nèi)。這些草藥沒有營養(yǎng)價值,并且尼安德塔人也能識別草藥的苦味,因此研究人員推斷這些穴居人并不是把草藥當做食物而大嚼特嚼,而是用它來自我治療。據(jù)他們說,這并不牽強赴會,因為像黑猩猩這樣的靈長類動物也食用草藥。
Luckily for the scientists doing this detective work, Neanderthals may have known a thing or two about medicine, but they didn't get regular check-ups at the dentist.
對于從事這次偵探工作的科學家們來說很幸運,尼安德塔人雖然知道一點藥物知識,但他們沒有牙醫(yī)為他們定期進行牙齒檢查。
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