Ancient Peruvians munched on popcorn almost 7,000 years ago! Traces of ancient cobs, husks and stalks were unearthed at Paredones and Huaca Prieta, two coastal sites that were once home to pre-historic settlements, hinting that the snack’s popularity dates back as far as 4700 B.C. How did they prepare the crunchy treat? They roasted the cobs directly over coals or flames. Later inhabitants of Peru’s northern coast would develop the world’s oldest known popper – a shallow vessel with a handle and a hole on top around 300 A.D.
“Corn was first domesticated in Mexico nearly 9,000 years ago from a wild grass called teosinte,” Dolores Piperno, co-author and curator of New World archaeology at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, said in a written statement. “Our results show that only a few thousand years later corn arrived in South America where its evolution into different varieties that are now common in the Andean region began.”
With the hundreds of maize varieties known today, it’s hard for scientists to know exactly how each strain of corn came about and when and where it originated. This is particularly true because corncobs and kernels didn’t stay well preserved in the humid tropical forests between Central and South America, including Panama, which is the primary dispersal route for the crop after it first left Mexico over 8,000 years ago.
“Because there is so little data available from other places for this time period, the wealth of morphological information about the cobs and other corn remains at this early date is very important for understanding how corn became the crop we know today,” said Piperno.
But popcorn isn’t the oldest snack we’ve found to be eaten by prehistoric humans. Last year, scientists found fossilized plant remains stuck in the teeth of Neanderthal fossils, revealing that our ancestors ate a wide range of grains and plants in addition to meat.
Conveniently for paleobiologists, the mineralization process that forms fossils traps and preserves food particles and bacteria in the oral environment, leaving behind traceable clues of Paleolithic meals.
Credit : Huff Post
Picture Credit : Google
