Humans
Snail shell fragments found in a cave in South Africa appear to have been heated, providing the earliest evidence for humans eating snails
By Carolyn Wilke
A shell from a snail in the family Achatinidae, similar to those thought to have been cooked at Border Cave in South Africa
Marine Wojcieszak
Broken bits of shells found in a cave in South Africa have given researchers the earliest evidence for prehistoric people roasting and eating snails.
Other studies have pointed to snail consumption at sites in Europe around 30,000 years ago and in Africa around 40,000 years ago. “There is a huge gap from that to our findings,” says Marine Wojcieszak, who did the new work while …
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