Food Resource Database (FREDA) – all you can eat from past to today

The Food Resource Database (FREDA) is created in the frame of the PhD project of Susanne Krüger.

The data collected in FREDA comprise information on edibility, abundance and seasonality of edible resources that occur in natural environments. These resources include plants, mushrooms, invertebrates, such as insects or land snails, as well as small (<10 kg) and large vertebrates (>10 kg).

Based on such records it is possible to analyse and quantify food resources in different aspects, such as an analysis of the changing availability of resources in time and space. The availability of resources is considered taking not only natural aspects into account but also the different levels of cultural capacities necessary for the utilization. Cultural capacities of different hominin groups regarding the exploitation of different resources change considerably through time, for example with respect to the use of fire or hunting techniques.

The information stored in this database are most detailed with respect to edibility, nutrition, abundance and seasonal availability of resources.