Tag: Hominin diet

Recent analysis of Neanderthal dental calculus revealed a diverse diet including plants like date palms, legumes, and seeds, challenging the simplistic portrayal of a raw, meat-heavy menu. To truly understand what did early humans eat for lunch, one must look at the highly adaptable and geographically varied diets of our prehistoric ancestors.

Recent isotopic analysis of ancient tooth enamel suggests that our early hominin ancestors, the Australopithecus, were overwhelmingly vegetarian, thriving primarily on plants. This surprising fact provides new context for the question: were humans originally plant-based?

Archaeological evidence suggests hominins were consuming meat more than 3 million years ago, but the idea of pinpointing who was the first person who ate meat is a myth. It was a long and gradual evolutionary process involving multiple species, not a single individual or moment. Instead of a single event, the transition to regular meat consumption played a pivotal role in shaping human development, intelligence, and social behavior over millions of years.