Watching meat rot helps decode what Neandertals ate
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Kimberly Foecke has a great relationship with her local butcher. She buys lots of organic meat — then lets it rot. Go really bad. What’s she’s learning may help her better understand what Neandertals ate.
Foecke undertakes experimental putrefaction (Pyoo-truh-FACK-shun). That, she explains, is “a fancy way of saying, I rot meat — all day, every day.” Foecke is a paleobiologist at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
Neandertals (Nee-AN-dur-tals) are an extinct species of hominid that was closely related to humans. They lived in Europe and parts of Asia from about 200,000 years ago until about 28,000 years ago. Scientists have a lot of questions about how they lived, including what they ate.
Researchers know Neandertals ate a lot of meat because much of the nitrogen in the hominids’ fossil bones tends to be a heavy form known as nitrogen-15, or 15N. 15N is least abundant in plants. Animals tend to have far more because their enzymes (or those of the food-digesting microbes in their guts) have a preference for breaking down molecules that have nitrogen-14 (or 14N). So when an animal eats plants with 15N, the chemical tends to accumulate in them. When that animal becomes the prey of another, the predator takes in even more 15N. In this way, 15N becomes more concentrated as nitrogen moves up the food chain.
The more meat an animal — including some hominid — eats, the higher the share of 15N their bones will tend to have.
But exactly how much meat Neandertals ate is somewhat controversial. So is the question of what else they dined on. Evidence such as tooth scrapings suggests Neandertals ate a variety of plants. But the high ratio of 15N to 14N in their bones points to their having eaten "an unreasonably huge amount of meat," says Foecke. Their levels can exceed what’s seen in top carnivores, such as hyenas. Those critters eat little other than meat.
Foecke thinks the high 15N levels in their bones may be explained not just by how much meat Neandertals ate, but also how fresh it had been. Whether meat was eaten fresh or rotten, raw or cooked, might influence the ratio of 15N to 14N that ends up in bones. That’s why she’s measuring nitrogen in beef. She’s trying to pin down the chemical changes meat undergoes as it rots.
Grocery store steaks wouldn’t cut it for this experiment. Instead, Foecke calls her butcher in Maryland. The butcher makes sure that the steaks she receives are fresh and from animals raised on an organic diet. By that she means those animals must not have had added hormones or antibiotics. She wants those animals to be as close as possible to what Neandertals would have hunted 200,000 years ago.
Foecke places the meat in a mesh-covered box in her family’s backyard, or sometimes in a greenhouse. Then she leaves them to rot for 16 days. She samples nitrogen values in the meat daily. (In future, she plans to sample for even longer periods.)
Her early results suggest that 15N ratios vary as meat rots. In the first week, the share of nitrogen that’s 15N tends to increase. The meat is moist, she notes. So the microbes in it are busy breaking down the lighter 14N faster than the 15N. This meat smells “pretty terrible,” Foecke admits. Over time, however, the stench diminishes. At the same time, the meat blackens and becomes more jerkylike.
She reported her findings December 14 at the American Geophysical Union meeting, here, in Washington, D.C.
This research suggests that eating rotting meat could at least partly explain the high 15N levels in Neandertal fossils. And that makes sense, Foecke says. Neandertals weren’t always feasting on fresh grub. Especially after they killed a large animal, its carcass might last many days. Foecke also is measuring what happens chemically as she cooks or smokes meat. These are food-prep steps that Neandertals might have taken that also might affect 15N.
antibiotic A germ-killing substance, usually prescribed as a medicine (or sometimes as a feed additive to promote the growth of livestock). It does not work against viruses.
carcass The body of a dead animal.
carnivore An animal that either exclusively or primarily eats other animals.
chemical A substance formed from two or more atoms that unite (bond) in a fixed proportion and structure. For example, water is a chemical made when two hydrogen atoms bond to one oxygen atom. Its chemical formula is H2O. Chemical also can be an adjective to describe properties of materials that are the result of various reactions between different compounds.
diet The foods and liquids ingested by an animal to provide the nutrition it needs to grow and maintain health. (verb) To adopt a specific food-intake plan for the purpose of controlling body weight.
enzymes Molecules made by living things to speed up chemical reactions.
extinct An adjective that describes a species for which there are no living members.
fossil Any preserved remains or traces of ancient life. There are many different types of fossils: The bones and other body parts of dinosaurs are called “body fossils.” Things like footprints are called “trace fossils.” Even specimens of dinosaur poop are fossils. The process of forming fossils is called fossilization.
greenhouse A light-filled structure, often with windows serving as walls and ceiling materials, in which plants are grown. It provides a controlled environment in which set amounts of water, humidity and nutrients can be applied — and pests can be prevented entry.
gut An informal term for the gastrointestinal tract, especially the intestines.
hominid A primate within the animal family that includes humans and their ancient upright-walking relatives. Except for humans, all other hominids are known only from fossils.
hormone (in zoology and medicine) A chemical produced in a gland and then carried in the bloodstream to another part of the body. Hormones control many important body activities, such as growth. Hormones act by triggering or regulating chemical reactions in the body.
microbe Short for microorganism. A living thing that is too small to see with the unaided eye, including bacteria, some fungi and many other organisms such as amoebas. Most consist of a single cell.
molecule An electrically neutral group of atoms that represents the smallest possible amount of a chemical compound. Molecules can be made of single types of atoms or of different types. For example, the oxygen in the air is made of two oxygen atoms (O2), but water is made of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom (H2O).
Neandertal A species (Homo neanderthalensis) that lived in Europe and parts of Asia from about 200,000 years ago to roughly 28,000 years ago.
nitrogen A colorless, odorless and nonreactive gaseous element that forms about 78 percent of Earth's atmosphere. Its scientific symbol is N. Nitrogen is released in the form of nitrogen oxides as fossil fuels burn. It comes in two stable forms. One has 14 neutrons in its nucleus; the other has 15. For that difference, they are known, respectively, as nitrogen-14 and nitrogen-15 (or 14N and 15N).
organic (in agriculture) Farm products grown without the use of non-natural and potentially toxic chemicals, such as pesticides. These products also tend to have no added hormones.
paleobiology The study of organisms that lived in ancient times — especially geologically ancient periods, such as the dinosaur era. Scientists who work in this field are known as paleobiologists.
predator (adjective: predatory) A creature that preys on other animals for most or all of its food.
prey (n.) Animal species eaten by others. (v.) To attack and eat another species.
ratio The relationship between two numbers or amounts. When written out, the numbers usually are separated by a colon, such as a 50:50. That would mean that for every 50 units of one thing (on the left) there would also be 50 units of another thing (represented by the number on the right).
species A group of similar organisms capable of producing offspring that can survive and reproduce.
Meeting: K. Foecke, A. Brooks and C. France. Alternatives to Neanderthal hypercarnivory: Experimental study of the δ15N values of meat during putrefaction. American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting. December 12, 2018. Washington, D.C.