Humans’ early ancestors in Europe may not have spent their days eating Nutella on toasted bread, but hazelnuts were a valuable resource thousands of years ago. The way this vital source of energy was cultivated and harvested evolved as the landscape changed as giant glaciers retreated. Isotope analysis of the carbon in archaeological traces of hazelnuts in southern Sweden show that the nuts were harvested in progressively more open environments, according to a study published February 29 in the journal Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology. The findings paint a more detailed picture of what the landscape looked like as hunter-gathering gave way to farming.
[Related: Neanderthals and modern humans intermingled in Europe 45,000 years ago.]
A shifting forest landscape
Around 14,000 BCE slowly melting glaciers allowed for more vegetation to grow and created open woodlands with pine and birch trees in the area for the first time. By the Mesolithic era (about 8,000 BCE) hazel trees started to become one of the dominant woodland species throughout the southern part of Sweden. Along with pine trees, the hazel forests formed a unique woodland that does not have any known comparison today, according to the study. More broadleaved trees such as oak and linden began to fill in, but hazel remained important as farming began in the Neolithic era around 4,000 BCE.
“Farming started in southern Sweden and marked a transition to more open areas with grasslands,” Karl Ljung, a study co-author paleoecologist at Lund University in Sweden, tells PopSci. “Hazel continued to be an important species in this progressively more open landscape and was likely favored by people.”
The hazel trees provided a source for both raw materials and food, similar to seaweed. The nuts are a good source of protein and energy and have a long shelf life. Hazelnut shells can also be used as fuel in fires.
‘Plants act as time capsules’
Hazel trees and all…
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