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Period: 40,000 BCE to
Beginning of food history
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30,000 BCE
meat
The first major evolutionary change in the human diet was the incorporation of meat and marrow from large animals, which occurred by at least 2.6 million years ago. -
10,000 BCE
development of agriculture
Agricultural communities developed approximately 10,000 years ago when humans began to domesticate plants and animals. -
10,000 BCE
bread/cereals
The oldest evidence of bread-making has been found in a 14,500-year-old Natufian site in Jordan's northeastern desert. Around 10,000 BC -
8000 BCE
domestication of animals
The first animals to be domesticated for food use are thought to be sheep, between 11,000 and 9,000 B.C. in Southwest Asia. -
8000 BCE
milk
Archaeological evidence from as far back as the Neolithic revolution (8000 BCE), points to the use of milk in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. -
8000 BCE
cheese
The earliest proposed dates for the origin of cheesemaking range from around 8000 BCE, when sheep were first domesticated. -
130 BCE
silk road
The Silk Road is neither an actual road nor a single route. The term instead refers to a network of routes used by traders for more than 1,500 years, from when the Han dynasty of China opened trade in 130 B.C.E. -
1254
marco polo
Marco Polo (1254-1324 CE) was a Venetian merchant and explorer who travelled to China and served the Mongol ruler Kublai Khan (l. 1214-1294 CE) between c. 1275 and 1292 CE.