Prehistoric Europeans mixed fish with local plants, replica cooking shows
Mar 4th 2026
Pottery residue analysis and replica cooking experiments, published in PLoS ONE (DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0342740), show prehistoric European communities mixed freshwater fish with local plants such as berries, grasses and tubers in regionally distinct preparations.
- Researchers analyzed pottery residues from sites across the Don River basin, Upper Volga, Dnieper-Dvina and the Baltic and ran replica cooking experiments to compare results.
- Don River basin shards contained wild legume seeds, wild grasses, bran and barley.
- Upper Volga and Dnieper-Dvina shards were rich in guelder rose berries and small-seeded Amaranthaceae plants.
- Baltic-region shards showed high freshwater fish traces together with berries, sea beetroot, flowering rush, beets and sea club-rush tubers.
- A Danish site contained dairy residues that likely reflect contact with nearby farming communities.
- Experimental boiling of berries and Amaranthaceae plants with freshwater fish reproduced the archaeological residue signatures and supports the conclusion that hunter-gatherer-fishers combined regionally specific plants with fish rather than eating fish alone.