Ancient Paleo Diet Debunked: Human Ancestors Loved Their Carbs, Too
A new archaeological study conducted along the Jordan River banks south of northern Israel's Hula Valley, offers a fresh perspective on the dietary habits of early humans, challenging conventional wisdom about prehistoric eating. The research reveals that prehistoric hunter-gatherers relied heavily on plant foods, particularly starchy plants, as a major energy source.
These findings suggest that contrary to popular belief, the diet of early hominins was not solely focused on animal protein, or even primarily composed of meat. Instead, the ancient diets featured a diverse range of plant-based foods, including (but not limited to) acorns, cereals, legumes, and aquatic plants.
Countering the Paleo Bias in the Archaeological Record
The results of this new study have been in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). In this article, an international team of researchers led by archaeologist Dr. Hadar Ahituv, who is now at Haifa University in Israel, describe how they discovered starch grains that are approximately 780,000 years old on the surfaces of basalt tools at an ancient settlement site near Gesher Benot Ya'akov.
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The site, located on the shores of the ancient Hula Lake, has provided a wealth of evidence of ancient lifestyles and technologies. Excavations have unearthed over 20 layers of settlement, ample samplings of fossilized animal remains, and abundant plant remnants such as seeds and fruits.
Excavations at the Gesher Benot Ya’akov site, searching for ancient tools. (Gesher Benot Ya’akov team/Bar-Ilan University).
The discovery that the ancients loved carbohydrates contradicts the prevailing narrative that ancient human diets were primarily based on animal protein, as is frequently suggested by promoters of the popular "paleo" diet.
Many of these diets are based on the interpretation of animal bones found at archaeological sites where plant-based foods have seldom been found. But this interpretation overlooks the fact that plant remains are inherently difficult to detect at archaeological sites, and the farther back in time the site reaches the harder it will be to recover plant remnants.
However, advances in archaeological technology have made it possible to detect trace amounts of organic substances embedded in or on the surfaces of physical artifacts.
The discovery of starch grains on ancient tools provides new insight into the central role of plants, particularly starchy tubers, nuts, and roots, which are rich in carbohydrates vital for the energy demands of the human brain. These healthy foods certainly would have helped fuel developments in human evolution, and can absolutely be seen as a driver in this process, Dr. Ahituv and his colleagues argue.
The Fascinating Technologies of Ancient Food Preparation
In addition to revealing the truth about their complex diet, this study highlights the sophisticated methods early humans at Gesher Benot Ya’akov (most likely Homo erectus, a toolmaking human ancestor that lived between two million and 100,000 years ago) used to process plant materials.
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The starch grains were found on basalt maces and anvils—tools used to crack and crush plant foods. These tools, the earliest evidence of human processing of plant foods, were used to prepare a variety of plants, including acorns, cereals, legumes, and aquatic plants like the yellow water lily and now-extinct water chestnut. Researchers also identified microscopic remains such as pollen grains, rodent hair, and feathers on the tools, supporting the credibility of the starch findings.
"We now understand that early hominids gathered a wide variety of plants year-round, which they processed using tools made from basalt,” said Dr. Ahituv. “This discovery opens a new chapter in the study of early human diets and their profound connection to plant-based foods."
Examples of some of the plants that were found on ancient tools in trace amounts at the Gesher Benot Ya’akov site. (Gesher Benot Ya’akov team/Bar-Ilan University).
The findings also offer insights into the social and cognitive behaviors of early humans. The use of tools to process plants suggests a high level of cooperation and social structure, as the hominins operated as part of larger social groups. Their ability to utilize a diverse array of resources from both aquatic and terrestrial environments shows a deep knowledge of their surroundings, much like modern humans possess today.
Prehistoric People Embraced Diversity in Diet
This eye-opening study was conducted as part of Dr. Ahituv's doctoral thesis at Bar-Ilan University's Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology. He is now at the Laboratory for Ancient Food Processing Technologies (LAFPT), at Haifa University's Zinman Institute of Archaeology. This collaborative research effort also involved scholars from multiple institutions, including Prof. Nira Alperson-Afil and Dr. Yoel Melamed from Bar-Ilan University, Prof. Naama Goren-Inbar from the Hebrew University, and Prof. Amanda Henry from Leiden University, Netherlands.
“The profound knowledge of the lifecycles and nutritive benefits of various edible plants enabled the GBY [Gesher Benot Ya’akov] hominins to construct organized, scheduled, exploitation sequences,” the study authors wrote in a summary of their findings. “These involved different gathering strategies, the carrying of food stuffs to the lakeshore from various distances, and the elaborated processing of the plants (shelling, roasting, pounding, and grinding). These sequences required that the GBY hominins used a variety of routines that involved different materials, different time intervals, and different settings, all integrated into an overarching plan of action executed through their expert cognition.”
These discoveries mark a significant milestone in the field of prehistoric studies and provides valuable evidence about the dietary habits of our ancient ancestors, offering new perspectives on human evolution and the development of complex societies.
