When Did Eating Meat Become Common? An Evolutionary Timeline

January 10, 2026 •

4 min read

Earliest archaeological evidence from Ethiopia indicates our ancestors were butchering animals with stone tools as far back as 2.6 million years ago. This initial foray into carnivory marks the beginning of the long evolutionary journey to understand when did eating meat become common.

Quick Summary

Human meat consumption evolved from opportunistic scavenging in early hominids to proficient hunting and later, domestication. Cooking amplified the nutritional benefits, fundamentally shaping human biology and social structures over millions of years.

Key Points

Scavenging came first: The earliest evidence suggests that hominins began consuming meat around 2.6 million years ago, likely by scavenging carcasses left by predators, before organized hunting began.
Tools unlocked resources: The development of stone tools allowed early humans to more efficiently butcher carcasses and access nutrient-rich bone marrow, marking a key step in increasing meat consumption.
Cooking was a catalyst: The discovery of cooking, potentially by Homo erectus over a million years ago, made meat safer, easier to digest, and more energy-rich, fueling the development of larger brains.
Agriculture ensured supply: The Neolithic Revolution (around 10,000 BCE) saw the domestication of livestock, moving the source of meat from unreliable wild hunting to a stable, controlled farm-based supply.
Commonality is relative: The term 'common' evolved over time; for hunter-gatherers, meat was a prized, albeit inconsistent, food source, while for settled agriculturalists, it became a more regular part of the diet, changing societal structures.
Neanderthals were omnivores: Recent findings have shown that Neanderthals had diverse diets, including both meat and cooked plants, challenging the older notion that they were exclusively carnivores.

From Scavenging to Hunting: The Dawn of Carnivory

For millions of years, the human dietary landscape was primarily plant-based. The profound shift towards regular meat consumption began not with organized hunting, but with opportunistic scavenging. Early hominins, long before modern Homo sapiens, likely used simple stone tools to access high-calorie marrow and tissue from the carcasses of animals left behind by larger predators. The oldest tools and butchered animal remains found in Ethiopia date back 2.6 million years and are associated with Homo habilis, demonstrating our genus's early link to meat-eating.

The Rise of Homo erectus and Advanced Hunting

As hominins evolved, their methods of obtaining meat advanced significantly. Around 2 million years ago, Homo erectus emerged, bringing a more sophisticated approach to acquiring animal protein.

Evidence for advanced carnivory includes:

Tool Complexity: The development of more refined stone tools, capable of more efficient butchering, suggests a move beyond mere scavenging. The ability to process carcasses thoroughly indicates a more reliable access to meat and marrow.
Competitive Behavior: Archaeological evidence shows early humans competed directly with large carnivores for prey carcasses, suggesting a more active role than just waiting for leftovers. At some sites, butchered bones show both human tool marks and carnivore teeth marks.
Physiological Changes: The evolution of Homo erectus included a larger brain and smaller gut compared to earlier ancestors. This shift is linked to a higher-quality, more energy-dense diet that could support a larger, metabolically expensive brain. Meat was a key component of this dietary change.

The Catalytic Role of Cooking

While early humans ate raw meat, the discovery and mastery of fire was a watershed moment that dramatically transformed meat consumption. Cooking food, both meat and plants, made it safer, easier to digest, and more nutritious.

How Cooking Enhanced Meat Consumption

Increased Digestibility: Cooking softens tough connective tissues in meat, allowing the human body to absorb more calories and nutrients with less effort. This provided the crucial energy needed to fuel larger brains.
Eliminated Pathogens: Heat kills bacteria and parasites found in raw meat, significantly reducing the risk of foodborne illnesses. This evolutionary advantage would have increased survival rates for those who regularly cooked their food.
Reduced Chewing Time: Cooked food requires less chewing, which led to a reduction in jaw size and tooth wear over generations. This freed up energy that was once spent on extensive chewing, further contributing to brain development.

Evidence of controlled fire use dates back at least 1 million years, and widespread cooking fires appear around 250,000 years ago, indicating that cooking was an ingrained part of human life long before modern humans emerged.

The Agricultural Revolution and Its Impact

Around 10,000 years ago, the Neolithic Revolution changed human society forever. The shift from nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyles to settled farming led to the domestication of animals like sheep, goats, pigs, and cattle. This created a stable, reliable source of meat, unlike the unpredictable nature of hunting.

Comparing Meat Consumption: Hunter-Gatherers vs. Agriculturalists


Feature	Hunter-Gatherer Diet (Pre-10,000 BCE)	Agriculturalist Diet (Post-10,000 BCE)
Source	Wild game (mammoths, deer, rabbits), fish, scavenged carcasses	Domesticated livestock (cattle, sheep, pigs, goats), some wild game
Reliability	Unpredictable, dependent on successful hunts and scavenging	Stable and controlled, enabled by domestication and herding
Diversity	Highly varied, dependent on local ecosystems and seasonality	Generally focused on fewer species, based on what was domesticated
Processing	Butchering with stone tools, simple cooking over fire	Butchering and processing using more advanced tools; varied cooking techniques
Social Impact	Often involved group coordination and sharing; highly mobile societies	Enabled settled communities, population growth, and trade; specialized roles developed

The Agricultural Revolution led to a steady and consistent supply of meat, which supported the growth of larger, more complex human societies. However, early agriculturalists did not necessarily eat more meat than their hunter-gatherer predecessors. Isotopic analysis of ancient remains indicates elite populations in early medieval England, for example, did not have significantly higher-protein diets than non-elites, contrary to previous assumptions.

Conclusion: A Long and Evolving Relationship

The question of when did eating meat become common for humans has a multi-layered answer, spanning millions of years. It began not as a common habit, but as an opportunistic addition to a primarily vegetarian diet over 2.5 million years ago. The subsequent evolution of hunting techniques and, most critically, the mastery of fire for cooking, made meat a much more regular, safer, and energetically valuable food source. Finally, the Agricultural Revolution secured a predictable supply through domestication, cementing meat's place in diets around the globe, though its prevalence and role have continued to shift over time. The complex relationship between humans and meat is therefore not a singular event, but a long, transformative process that shaped our bodies, cultures, and societies. For further reading on the evolutionary impact of cooking, see Richard Wrangham's work: Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human.

Frequently Asked Questions

Initially, early hominins were opportunistic scavengers, using stone tools to extract resources like marrow from carcasses left by other animals. Over time, hunting skills and tools developed, leading to a shift towards more active and cooperative hunting strategies.

Cooking meat had a profound impact on human evolution. It broke down fibers, making meat easier to chew and digest, which increased the net energy gained. This energy surplus helped fuel the growth of larger, more complex brains while reducing the need for large jaws and digestive tracts.

Evidence for early meat consumption includes stone tools for butchering, cut marks found on fossilized animal bones, and stable isotope analysis of ancient human remains. Such findings provide insight into the diet of our ancestors.

The Agricultural Revolution, starting around 10,000 years ago, introduced animal domestication. This allowed for a more controlled and reliable supply of meat, reducing dependency on hunting and enabling the growth of permanent settlements and larger populations.

The agricultural shift did not necessarily lead to more meat consumption. While it made the supply more consistent, archaeological studies indicate some hunter-gatherer diets were very high in meat. The change was more about stability and control over the food source rather than just volume.

No, contrary to earlier beliefs, evidence shows that Neanderthal diets varied depending on their location and included a significant amount of plant matter, as well as meat. Analysis of fossilized dental plaque and coprolites confirms they consumed cooked starchy plants, nuts, and other flora.

Meat offered a rich, concentrated source of calories, proteins, and essential nutrients like fats that are vital for brain function and growth. Incorporating meat into the diet was a crucial factor that allowed early hominins to support the development of larger, more energy-demanding brains.