New theories on use of hazelnuts in the Mesolithic

[Roibeard]

Hey,

For those who are interested in hazelnuts, there is a new theory on how they were utilized by hunter-gatherers in Europe. It involves germinating or "malting" the nuts prior to consumption. I wonder if this is practiced currently anywhere with hazelnuts or other nut types by people who sprout veg?
Interested reading and worthy of experimentation.

Here is a link to the conference poster.
http://www.discoveryprogramme.ie/en...48-hazelnut-processing-on-derragh-island.html

 

[sandbender]

Interesting stuff, I'm sure I read recently that a sizable 'spoil' heap had been found in western Scotland that indicated that early arrivals in the UK had made an annual visit to the same location to harvest hazelnuts over quite a considerable period of time.

I would think that hazelnuts would provide quite a sizable amount of nutrition for early hunter gatherers.

 

[BOD]

Thanks.

Smart people these H-Gs

 

[Zingmo]

I remember hearing that hazelnuts were among the first plants to re-colonise after the ice-age and wondering if they were deliberately or accidentally planted by humans. It would make sense if you find a good hunting spot to plant a few hazel trees around to improve the local forage menu.

Z

 

[robin wood]

interesting article, thanks for the link. you get similar huge concentrations of hazelnut shells in parts of Elizabethan London eg the Rose theatre, apparently they were a favourite snack. Sprouting theory is interesting.

 

[mountainm]

Splitting hazelnuts with a little knowhow is easy - as demonstrated elsewhere on this forum:
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=80291&highlight=opening

This could've been done with a piece of flint - why we think they'd be bashing them with rocks I'm unsure.