Spoons

Environmental & Science Education, STEM, Archeology, History of Science, Children

Ed Hessler

Most of our ideas on life during the prehistoric are focused on hunting with the male aspect of society once again dominating our thinking. Did you ever think of spoons - table spoons - as even conceivable in some regions of the world during the prehistoric period?

Of course not everyone in the world uses are standard table flatware--knives, spoons, forks. Who would  have ever thought that spoons might have played an important role in prehistory, especially in driving population growth. 

The lead to the BBC REEL (6m 17s) is about spoons which humans made "from animal bones (approximately 7500 ybp) to feed their babies with additional nourishment, other than breast milk. Mothers, as they always have, played an essential role in the survival and growth of human populations. 

The "discovery has transformed our understanding of human evolution, culture, and very survival as a species." The last few words strike me as over the top but it is written to attract viewers, recorded by hits. Of course, I could be wrong.

In any event this connection with the past will add to my pleasure of daily meals.