It is customary to roast and eat, outer shell removed, pumpkin seeds (at least where I grew up) so I can totally imagine prehistoric herders doing the same to watermelon seeds.
We roast and eat pumpkin seeds with the shells still on.
ditto - now I'm imagining some form of peeling pumpkin seeds and the time wasted :p
In Canada at least we can buy shell off pumpkin seeds in bulk (salted or plain) but they're usually sold as "pepitas". Whole pumpkin seeds are just called "pumpkin seeds". Both taste good!
Where did you grow up? To my knowledge I have only ever eaten pumpkin seeds with the shells on.
Middle Volga region of Russia. The shells were quite tough and clearly inedible - maybe different varieties of pumpkin.
Interesting. That must be the case. It never occurred to me to shell them or even that they could be shelled.
The watermelons in the article are some of the earliest precursors of the sweet watermelons we eat most commonly today but were probably bitter and might have had inedible if unprocessed/less palatable interior pulp like many of the current ones found across Africa.
In all 4* hotels in Beijing (swisshotel?) You can find peeled and roasted watermelon seeds. I was impressed to "discover" they are eaten, must be truly nutritious!