The oldest evidence of mushrooms as food

Analyses of ancient dental calculus from the Upper Palaeolithic has revealed that mushrooms were consumed as a food source 18,000-12,000 years ago.

Archaeologists know almost nothing about the early use of fungi. Although their use is poorly understood in prehistory, ethnographers have noted that recent hunter-gatherers have often used fungi as food, flavouring and medicine. Mushroom use has firmly been identified from as early as the European Chalcolithic. The Chalcolithic Tyrolean Iceman “Ötzi” carried several types of fungi on his person. “This finding at El Mirón Cave could be the earliest indication of human mushroom use or consumption, which until this point has been unidentified in the Palaeolithic”, says Robert Power.

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Story: Max-Planck-Gesellschaft | Photo: MPI f. Evolutionary Anthropology/ R. Power