The emergence of cooking in Southwest Asia

Abstract

There has been surprisingly little systematic study by prehisto­ rians of how in the distant past people cooked and consumed fo od. There are many unanswered questions. For example, how did cooking emerge and affect human evolution, how did it change with the advent of fa rming, when did kitchens fi rst appear and who built the earliest known ovens? Research on Palaeolithic and Neolithic fo od preparation and consumption is now beginning to suggest answers to such questions.