Nutrition – Neues Museum am See

Showcase Nutrition

Nutrition – Mostly plant-based but not vegan

Gathering, hunting, farming and animal husbandry – these activities to obtain food determined large parts of the daily routine. Wild vegetables, nuts, berries, seeds with high concentrations of oils, roots and mushrooms were collected all year round. Arable farming of grain, oilseeds and legumes depended on the seasons. Sheep, goats, cattle and pigs were kept as domestic animals, as were bees, horses and dogs. Among the wild animals, deer, wild boars, roe deer, ducks and fish played an important role as food sources, as did aurochs, bears, beavers and many small mammals.

A1

Sickles | Bronze, plaster replica of a wooden handle| 1000 BC | Vallamand (Switzerland)| REM

A2

Grain seeds | Binkel wheat, charred | 3900 BC | Horn-Hornstaad Hörnle | APM

Grain

Einkorn, emmer, wheat, barley, spelt, millet and acorns provided carbohydrates and trace elements.

A3

Grain seeds | Einkorn wheat, charred | 3000 BC | Sipplingen-Osthafen | APM

A4

Ears of grain | Wheat, charred | 3900 BC | Horn-Hornstaad Hörnle | ALM

A5

Grain seeds | 3900 BC | Horn-Hornstaad Hörnle | APM

A6

Millstone and grinder | Granite | 3000 BC | Sipplingen-Osthafen | APM

A7

Pot with eyelets | Pottery | 3500 BC | Unteruhldingen-Bayenwiesen | APM

Pest proof

Containers with hanging mechanisms such as loops or eyelets were suitable for storing provisions, such as grain.

A8

Beaker, grain, needle | Pottery, charred grain, bone | 3000 BC | Sipplingen-Osthafen | APM

Beaker with needle and charred grain

No one is born a master chef. This was already true in the Stone Age. Drying, stewing, roasting, smoking, cooking over the fire– techniques for preparing and preserving food were diverse. And something could always go wrong. Charred bread and burnt leftover porridge are evidence of this. Sometimes grain supplies or oily seeds stored in pots have survived to this day. But what’s the bone needle doing there? When it was found, it was lying inside the pot, together with the grain. Intentionally or through carelessness? We will probably never know!

B1

Fire starter kit | Pyrite, tinder fungus, flintstone | 3000 BC | Sipplingen-Osthafen | APM

Stone Age lighter

Without fire, there cann’t be any warm meals, duh! But thousands of years agao there were not any matches yet. Instead, the Stone Age lighter consisted of a flintstone, a pyrite nodule (also called fool’s gold) and a piece of tinder fungus. If the flintstone is hit against the pyrite right above the tinder fungus, hot sparks break away from the pyrite, causing the tinder to smoulder. A fire can then be started by placing dry reed seeds or hay ontop the tinder. Sounds complicated? With practice, the fire was lit in less than a minute and the soup was heated up quickly.

Illustration: after G. Embleton | APM

B2

Pot and boiling stone | Pottery and pebbles | 3000 BC | Sipplingen-Osthafen | APM

Hot Stones

Cooking pots could be heated directly on the fire or indirectly with cooking stones. The stones were heated in the fire to approx. 400 °C and carefully placed into the pot. They act like immersion heaters.

C1

Whisk | Wood | 3850 BC | Robenhausen (Switzerland) | IVF

C2

Porridge crust from a pot | Grain porridge, charred | 3900 BC | Horn-Hornstaad Hörnle | ALM

C3

Bread fragments | Bread, charred | 3800 BC | Wangen-Hinterhorn | ALM

C4

Millet bread | Bread, charred | 3850 BC | Robenhausen (Switzerland) | REM

C5

Bread fragments | Bread, charred | 3800 BC | Switzerland | REM

C6

Hazelnuts | 3000 BC | Sipplingen-Osthafen | APM

Nuts

Nuts but also linseed and poppy seeds covered the need for vegetable oils, fats and nutritional trace elements.

C7

Water chestnuts | Water chestnuts, charred | 3800 BC | Altshausen | ALM

C8

Appels | Apple halves, charred | 3700 BC | Seekirch-Ödenahlen | APM

C9

Apples | Apple halves, charred | 3800 BC | Wangen-Hinterhorn | ALM

Fruits

Crab apples, berries and stone fruits such as sloes and cornelian cherries provided vitamins.

C10

Sloe seeds | 3900 BC | Horn-Hornstaad Hörnle | ALM

D1

Cracked femur | Aurochs, deer | 3500 BC | Unteruhldingen-Bayenwiesen | APM

Meat

provided protein, minerals and vitamins.

D2

Lower jaw | Fox | 3000 BC | Sipplingen-Osthafen | APM

D3

Shell | Turtle |3500 BC |Bussenseeried |RGM

D4

Lower jaw | Cattle |3000 BC | Sipplingen-Osthafen | APM

D5

Bone with cut marks | Beaver, cattle, domestic pig | 2850 BC | Schreckensee | ALM

D6

Excrements | 3800 BC | Wangen-Hinterhorn | REM

Waiste

Not only the analysis of provisions, but also of food leftovers, bones and feces shed light on the dietary habits of early humans.

D7

Excrement | Goat faeces | 3600 BC | Niederwil (Switzerland) | REM

D8

Jar with handle | Pottery, residues of birch tar | 3800 BC | Sipplingen-Osthafen | ALM

D9

Chewing gums | Birch tar, teeth marks | 3900 BC | Horn-Hornstaad Hörnle | ALM

Birch tar

is a distillate made from birch bark. It was used as an adhesive, but also as a medicine for skin problems or toothaches.