The diet of primitive people was dominated by products of plant origin – archaeologists

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Scientists have found out that primitive people ate more plant products. Previously, it was believed that the basis of their diet was meat.

The results of the study, published in the scientific journal Plos One, indicate that wild potatoes and other root crops were the dominant food source for ancient humans, writes The Guardian.

Archaeologists have examined the remains of 24 people from two burials in the Peruvian Andes, dated between 9000 and 6500 BC. They compared the chemical forms of carbon and nitrogen in their bones with those of native plants and animals. The analysis showed that plant foods made up the majority of people’s diets, and meat played a secondary role.

“It is generally accepted that primitive people ate mainly meat. However, our analysis proves that their diet consisted of 80% plant products, and only 20% meat.” – says Randy Haas, an archaeologist from the University of Wyoming.

Photo: lurii/Depositphotos

The researchers also found burned remains of plants and clear traces of teeth on them at the burial sites. Therefore, the researchers suggest that wild potatoes were the dominant food source.

The analysis also found that most of the meat in the diet was large mammals, such as deer or llamas, as well as birds or fish.

Haas said the idea that early humans ate mostly meat was widely held among scientists. This point of view is partly due to archaeological data: found stone tools and bones of hunted animals.

The researchers note that similar studies on the diet of early humans can be conducted in other countries.

Earlier we told that the first people in Europe could have died out due to extreme cold.

Vira Shurmakevich, “UP. Life”

Read also: Homo sapiens appeared 100 thousand years earlier – scientists

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