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Winter sources of ascorbic acid for Pleistocene hominins in northern Eurasia

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Abstract

Hominins emerging from Africa in the Pleistocene required sources of vitamins in addition to sources of energy and nutrient substance (carbohydrates, proteins, and fats). Most of their vitamin requirements could be provided by eating the flesh of herbivores but vitamin C is in low concentrations in animal muscle tissue. Lack of vitamin C causes the fatal disease of scurvy. In southern Eurasia, hominins would have been able to harvest fruits and vegetables throughout the year but as they migrated further to the north, they would encounter regions in which no plants were growing in mid-winter. Vitamin C is enriched in organ meats but their mass was probably too low for adequate provision. Storage of summer crops of fruit was possible. Hominins could however fulfil ascorbic acid requirements by drinking aqueous extracts from the needles of pines and other conifers which contain adequate amounts of vitamin C to satisfy human needs. Evidence is shown of pine needle and related consumption in Paleolithic sites.

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Adapted from Asouti et al. (2018)

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Acknowledgements

The author acknowledges the assistance of Prof. Herbert Schellhorn and Jessica Hider in preliminary attempts to measure vitamin C in extracts of pine trees. He also thanks Profs. John Speth and Paul Goldberg for comments on aspects of this paper. The author is grateful to Amanda Henry and another referee for informative comments on this manuscript.

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    H. P. Schwarcz

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HPS contributed all the research and writing on this project. Some work by Prof. Herbert Schellhorn and Jessica Hider is mentioned but did not contribute in a significant way to the conclusions of the paper.

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Schwarcz, H.P. Winter sources of ascorbic acid for Pleistocene hominins in northern Eurasia. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 15, 123 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-023-01828-y

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