Ancient Europeans Spiced Their Foods? [VIDEO] Mustard Garlic Residue Challenges Belief That Hunter-Gatherers Were Only Concerned WIth Caloric Intake[REPORT}

New research finds that  ancient people in modern day Denmark and Germany used spices to flavor their meat and fish. Garlic mustard was found in ancient pottery suggests that people that lives over 5,000 years ago did not just eat food for caloric value, but cared about spices and flavorings as well.

Since garlic mustard is not calorie dense and has little nutritional value, the finding raises the question of whether ancient humans cared about taste. The findings challenge the previously held belief that hunter-gatherers were simply concerned with searching for calorific food.

The garlic mustard was found alongside fat residues from meat and fish on the pottery.

"This is the earliest evidence, as far as I know, of spice use in this region in the Western Baltic; something that has basically no nutritional value, but has this value in a taste sense," said Dr Hayley Saul, who led the study from the University of York, UK.

"I think it was just really creative, and we often don't give hunter-gatherer cultures in the past credit for exactly how inventive and creative they were with things.

"It's often seen as being a period of culinary hardship where people were really struggling, but actually, its people really knew their environments, and knew how to make the best with what they've got. I think they were very clever, really," said Dr Saul.

Although this is the first evidence of spice use in Europe, flavoring food may have common in the Middle East. "There's a cave in Israel where coriander has been found, and that's dated to around 23,000 years ago. But it's very difficult to build up a picture of exactly how it's used. It's linking it to cooking that's quite important," said Dr Saul.