Paleolithic people were making flour 32,000 years ago

Grotta Paglicci // Photo by Stefano Ricci

Time to update your paleo diet. New research from scientists in Florence, Italy, suggests that the paleolithic people living in Southern Italy 32,000 years ago were grinding and consuming oats as a part of their diet.

According to NPR’s The Salt, “That finding comes from new investigations of an ancient stone recovered in a cave called Grotta Paglicci in Puglia, in southern Italy. It was used by the Gravettian culture—a paleolithic people who also left behind spectacular cave paintings, evidence of burial and distinctive stone tools.”

The researchers found five different grain starches on the paleolithic pestle, used to crush and grind grains into flour. This is the earliest known example of humans processing food for consumption.

Read more about the findings at NPR’s The Salt.