Study Reveals Ancient Moroccan Hunter-Gatherers Had Plant-Rich Diet

Researchers have examined human remains from the Taforalt cave, in eastern Morocco. They analyzed the chemical composition of their preserved teeth and found that hunter-gatherers ate more plants than meat. Their results "unequivocally demonstrate a substantial plant-based component" in the diet of cave dwellers, challenging the hypothesis that they "heavily depended on animal proteins." The study published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution also reveals that the marks on the ancient teeth suggested they had not been used to chew meat and provided clues about when babies were weaned.

The scientists also discovered that cave dwellers abandoned meat and became vegetarian more than 15,000 years ago. The same study revealed that Stone Age humans began weaning their babies with soft cereals before the age of one. Previous studies had shown that humans developed a taste for starch much more recently, when agriculture was invented about 8,000 years ago.