Multimedia Gallery - This whale barnacle is evidence that humans ate whale meat 164,000 years ago.

October 17, 2007

This whale barnacle is evidence that humans ate whale meat 164,000 years ago.

How do scientists know a whale was eaten here? Whale bones typically are too large for people to carry long distances to archaeological sites. Early humans carried only the skin and blubber. Turns out there are barnacle species that only live on the skin of whales. When people scavenged a beached whale and ate it, all that remained was the barnacle as a sign that says, "a whale was eaten here 164,000 years ago!"

Credit: South African Coast Paleoclimate, Paleoenvironment, Paleoecology, Paleoanthropology Project (SACP4), Arizona State University, Director - Curtis W. Marean

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