Scientists Discover Ancient Pottery Preserving 16,000-Year-Old Food

A clay pot is pictured at the Joya de Ceren archaeological site, in San Juan Opico, 35 km west of San Salvador, El Salvador. (AFP)
A clay pot is pictured at the Joya de Ceren archaeological site, in San Juan Opico, 35 km west of San Salvador, El Salvador. (AFP)
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Scientists Discover Ancient Pottery Preserving 16,000-Year-Old Food

A clay pot is pictured at the Joya de Ceren archaeological site, in San Juan Opico, 35 km west of San Salvador, El Salvador. (AFP)
A clay pot is pictured at the Joya de Ceren archaeological site, in San Juan Opico, 35 km west of San Salvador, El Salvador. (AFP)

A new international study found that ancient hunters in different areas in the Russian Far East created heat resistant pots so that they could cook hot meals. Those pots helped them survive the harshest seasons of the Ice Age. The study was published in the latest issue of the Quaternary Science Review journal.

During the study, the researchers extracted nutritious bone grease and marrow from meat that were preserved in the old pottery found between 16,000 and 12,000 years ago. Analysis proved that the inhabitants of some regions preferred salmon, while others cooked the meat of wild animals such as deer and goats.

The Osipovka people on the Amur River used pottery to process fish, most likely migratory salmon, and to extract aquatic oils. Such salmon-based hot pots remain a favorite even today.

For the late glacial period, such dishes were seen as an alternative food source during periods of major climatic fluctuation - for example when severe cold prevented hunting on land. An identical scenario was identified by the same research group in neighboring islands of Japan. Yet, according to scientists, the Gromatukha culture had other culinary ideas. They used pots to cook land animals, like deer and wild goat.

"They were probably used to extract nutritious bone grease and marrow during the hungriest seasons," the researchers suggested.

Peter Jordan, director of the Arctic Center at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, senior author of the study, told the Siberian Times newspaper: "The findings are particularly interesting because they suggest that there was no single 'origin point' for the world's oldest pottery – we realized that very different pottery traditions were emerging around the same time but in different places, and that the pots were being used to process very different kinds of resources."

Oliver Craig, director of the lab where the analyses were conducted at the University of York, said: "The study illustrates the exciting potential of new methods in archaeological science. We can extract and interpret the remains of meals that were cooked in pots over 16,000 years ago."



Fans Bid Farewell to 4 Giant Pandas at Japan Zoo Before their Return to China

Giant panda Saihin, one among the four pandas on loan to Japan which will soon be heading back to China sits inside an enclosure at Adventure World in Shirahama, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan, Friday, June 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Ayaka McGill)
Giant panda Saihin, one among the four pandas on loan to Japan which will soon be heading back to China sits inside an enclosure at Adventure World in Shirahama, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan, Friday, June 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Ayaka McGill)
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Fans Bid Farewell to 4 Giant Pandas at Japan Zoo Before their Return to China

Giant panda Saihin, one among the four pandas on loan to Japan which will soon be heading back to China sits inside an enclosure at Adventure World in Shirahama, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan, Friday, June 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Ayaka McGill)
Giant panda Saihin, one among the four pandas on loan to Japan which will soon be heading back to China sits inside an enclosure at Adventure World in Shirahama, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan, Friday, June 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Ayaka McGill)

Thousands of fans bid a teary farewell Friday to a family of four giant pandas at a zoo in Japan’s coastal town of Shirahama as the animals made their last public appearance before their return to China.

Around 3,000 visitors flocked to the Adventure World theme park to get a last glimpse of the beloved animals. Many rushed straight to the panda exhibit zone, calling out the names of their favorites, The Associated Press reported.

Although the 24-year-old mother Rauhin and her three daughters — Yuihin, Saihin and Fuhin — were all born and raised at the park, they remain on loan from China and must now be returned.

Once they return to China, Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei at Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo will be the only pandas left in Japan.

More than 1,000 people, many wearing panda-themed attire, queued outside the entrance of the theme park hours before it opened while some camped outside the night before.

Some people wiped off tears while viewing throwback images of the pandas when they were cubs.

Yoshihiko Fukuzumi recalls the arrival of the first two pandas at the park 30 years ago and has watch their family grow. Since retiring three years ago, he and his wife have visited them nearly everyweek. “To us, they are like our grandchildren."

Giant pandas are native to southwestern China and serve as an unofficial national mascot. Beijing lends them to other countries as a sign of goodwill but maintains ownership over them and any cubs they produce.

Born in 2000, Rauhin had seven other cubs with Eimei, a male panda sent from China in 1994. Eimei returned home two years ago and has since died.

Despite strained political ties between Japan and China, giant pandas are hugely popular in Japan.

“We feel comforted just by looking at pandas,” said zoo director Koji Imazu.

Imazu said the departure of the four pandas marks the end of the zoo's 30-year joint project with China. He thanked Chinese specialists for sharing their expertise with the Japanese staff and said the zoo will be ready for a new arrival at any time.

“Of course we all miss them, but I hope you could send them off with a cheerful wave and wish them well in China,” Imazu said.

In Beijing, China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said giant pandas are “friendly ambassadors" conveying the goodwill of the Chinese people.

Guo said that China and Japan have collaborated on panda conservation and research since 2000, and that China is ready to further strengthen international cooperation, including with Japan.

Rauhin and her daughters will be flown to China on Saturday where they will join other pandas at a facility in Sichuan province near their original habitat. There, the three young ones will find partners.

“I still can't believe they're all leaving,” said Junko Ikeda, a Fuhin fan from neighboring Nara prefecture who spent Thursday night in her camper van for the send-off. "I hope she finds a partner, becomes a mother and lives a happy life.”