Not All Paleolithic Hunter-Gatherers Were Big Into Meat, New Study Reveals

[Judi Lynn]

30 April 2024
By MICHELLE STARR



The view from inside Taforalt cave in Morocco. (Abdeljalil Bouzouggar)

Anyone indulging in a paleo-style diet might want to think about adding a few more vegetables.

The teeth and bones of pre-agricultural human hunter-gatherers who lived some 15,000 years ago in what is now Morocco reveal that their diet – long thought to have been significantly loaded with animal protein – was actually weighted much further in the direction of plant-based food. It seems plants may have even been used to wean infants, the study found.

"Our results unequivocally demonstrate a substantial plant-based component in the diets of these hunter-gatherers," write a team led by anthropologist Zineb Moubtahij of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany.

"This study underscores the importance of investigating dietary practices during the transition to agriculture and provides insights into the complexities of human subsistence strategies across different regions."

It's assumed that before the rise of agriculture, ancient humans ate a lot of meat and animal products.

We know they ate some; archaeological sites have been found littered with animal remains that bear evidence of being processed for consumption. Since plant matter is less likely to remain intact through the millennia, it's less clear how much of the diet of ancient humans and their relatives consisted of roots, fruits, stems, flowers, and leaves.

More:
https://www.sciencealert.com/not-all-paleolithic-hunter-gatherers-were-big-into-meat-new-study-reveals