Use of grass seed resources c.31 ka by modern humans at the Haua Fteah cave, northeast Libya

Abstract

The recovery of a seed grinding stone from human occupation layers dating to c.31 ka in the Haua Fteah cave on the coast of the Gebel Akhdar massif in northeast Libya sheds new light on the subsistence practices of modern humans in North Africa. An integrated study of usewear and organic residue analysis confirms the use of the tool for seed grinding. Residue analysis recovered a total of 15 starch granules that could be reliably identified as belonging to wild cereals, ten of which are identified as A-type granules of Aegilops sp. (goat grass). The results of this study show that modern humans had the capacity to identify large-seeded grasses as a potential food source, perhaps targeted during periods of resource stress, and were capable of adapting pounding and grinding technologies to solve the unique problems of seed processing to render an edible food from grasses. The findings from this research show that broad-spectrum diets involving the exploitation of wild cereals were emerging during the Late Stone Age in North Africa.