Sicilian secrets

Sicily is an island of rich and varied history. Before the arrival of human beings it was home to both dwarf hippos and dwarf elephants. During Roman times Sicily endured the poor governorship of Verres immortalised in a speech by the Senator Cicero. After the Romans it fell under control of the Normans and then the Arabs. Today it is an Italian island that is famously home to the crime syndicate the Cos Nostra, also known as the Mafia. In modern times a more illustrious fame has been accrued Sicily as one of the homes of the Mediterranean diet which has been shown to offer many health benefits. In an interesting discovery though, archaeological remains have shown that the first human inhabitants of Sicily did not embrace an important element of that Mediterranean diet and lifestyle.

A Mediterranean diet protects against the development of heart disease, metabolic syndrome, some cancers, obesity, type 2 diabetes, dementia, and also leads to a longer life. There is no codified “Mediterranean diet” and it varies from region to region but essentially it features a reliance on plant foods (vegetables, fruits, beans, whole grains, nuts, olives, and olive oil) along with some cheese, yoghurt, fish, poultry, eggs, and wine. Most of the foods on the plan are fresh, seasonal whole foods and they are not processed. Preparation methods tend to be simple and the foods are rarely deep-fried.

New analysis though of skeletal remains found in caves of the Egadi Islands of Sicily have revealed that the first people to live in the region did not embrace an important, and obvious, element of this diet.

The remains show that the earliest peopling of Sicily occurred during the last ice age around 19,000 to 26,500 years ago. At this time sea levels were low enough to expose a land bridge between the Italian mainland and Sicily. The remains provided DNA that could be analysed to reveal that the early Sicilians retained their hunter-gatherer diet and relied on land animals for meat largely ignoring the plentiful marine environment. Fish then, was not a major part of the first Mediterranean diet.

So despite living on an island during times when sea levels were rapid enough to change significantly in a human lifetime, these early settlers stuck to what they knew and hunted land creatures instead of going fishing. Humans really are creatures of habit, and those habits die hard.