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Early humans struggled to find enough food, often risking their lives to secure even the smallest amount of nourishment. With limited resources and constant danger, it’s no wonder modern lifestyles have led to widespread weight issues.
While the modern Paleo diet is a popular trend, the real eating habits of ancient people were far more peculiar than most realize.
10. Canine Stew
Coprolites, or fossilized feces, provide fascinating insights into the diets of ancient humans. A 9,400-year-old specimen from Hinds Cave in Texas contained an unexpected discovery: a fragment from the skull of a domesticated dog.
Dogs have been loyal companions and protectors for millennia. However, evidence suggests they also served as an unintended food source. DNA analysis confirmed the skull fragment belonged to a domesticated dog, not a wild species such as a coyote or fox.
The dog likely resembled the short-nosed Native American breed found in New Mexico, weighing approximately 13.6 kilograms (30 lb). In ancient times, this would have provided a significant meal.
Dogs were likely not a regular part of the diet. Ethnographic studies indicate that prehistoric humans consumed dogs primarily during famines or special celebrations. The most common preparation method was a nourishing dog stew.
9. Fish Fermented in Pine Bark and Boar Hide
Fish bones degrade much faster than the durable bones of terrestrial animals, making ancient seafood consumption difficult to trace. However, a 9,200-year-old find in Sweden defies this pattern, though its details might leave you wishing it hadn’t.
In Blekinge, Sweden, archaeologists uncovered an astonishing concentration of fish bones—approximately 30,000 per square meter (10.8 ft). This discovery highlights an ancient Nordic technique that used the cold climate to create one of the most revolting fermentation methods ever recorded.
The process began by digging a pit. Fish were then stuffed into seal and boar hides, coated with pine bark and seal fat, and buried to ferment. This inventive approach was necessary in the absence of modern preservation methods.
Even by Nordic culinary standards, which are infamous for their fermented and often unrecognizable seafood, this method is extreme. However, the discovery of a large-scale fermentation site sheds light on an ancient societal shift: Northern populations began settling around the same time as those in the Fertile Crescent.
8. Crocodile and Hippopotamus
While we often credit our large Homo sapien brains to consuming flame-grilled mammoth steaks, it’s equally plausible that nutrient-rich, calorie-dense meats from turtles, crocodiles, and hippos played a crucial role in fueling our brain development.
A 1.95-million-year-old site in Kenya, inhabited by our ancestors, is remarkably preserved, allowing researchers to reconstruct the ancient environment. Abundant fossilized plants indicate that northern Kenya was far wetter and more marshy than it is today.
Further evidence was found in the teeth of animals slaughtered two million years ago. Microscopic plant remnants in their teeth suggest that our ancestors consumed grass-fed meats.
They consumed these meats raw, and targeting swamp-dwelling creatures was a tactical decision. Swamps were overlooked as hunting grounds but offered safer environments compared to the dangerous grasslands and savannas teeming with predatory cats and aggressive hyenas.
7. Animal Stomach Contents
Out of necessity, our ancestors often consumed unappetizing foods. When survival is uncertain, there’s no room for pickiness. Among the least appealing options was chyme—the partially digested contents of animal stomachs.
This theory is supported by microscopic traces found in 50,000-year-old Neanderthal dental plaque, which contained remnants of bitter plants like yarrow and chamomile.
Researchers suggest these plants entered the digestive systems of ancient hominids in an unconventional manner: through the stomach contents of their prey. After securing a kill, it would have been wasteful to discard the stomach or other organs, as they provided an additional source of calories.
Similar culinary practices persist in some cultures today. For example, Greenland’s Inuits occasionally enjoy reindeer stomachs as a delicacy, and Indigenous Australians sometimes consume kangaroo stomach contents.
6. Flour
While flour is often associated with the agricultural revolution and the rise of civilizations, evidence shows it was in use as far back as 32,000 years ago.
Grinding plant materials is a straightforward yet ingenious culinary technique that produces more durable and less perishable foods. At the Grotta Paglicci cave site in Puglia, Italy, the Gravettian people of the Paleolithic era were already practicing this method, predating agricultural advancements by millennia.
The Gravettian culture was known for their impressive cave art and innovative tools. Among these tools was a dual-purpose pestle and grinder—a handheld stone with a pointed end for cracking seeds and a flat end for grinding them into flour.
When researchers cleaned and analyzed the tool, they discovered traces of starches from wild oats, ancient millet, and acorns, revealing the diverse plant-based diet of these early humans.
5. Deep-Sea Fish (Tuna)
When imagining life 50,000 years ago, we often envision primitive humans gathered around small fires in rudimentary caves.
However, these early humans were already mastering the seas. Their advanced maritime abilities allowed them to reach Australia and, more importantly, enjoy a rich diet that included fish now considered luxury items.
A site in Jerimalai, East Timor, uncovered a treasure trove of 42,000-year-old fish bones—38,000 in total. Remarkably, over half of these bones came from deep-sea species like parrotfish and tuna.
Among the findings were two shell-made fishing hooks, with the oldest dating back 16,000 to 23,000 years. This discovery dramatically reshapes our understanding of early fishing practices, as the previously oldest-known fishhook was only 5,500 years old.
Since tuna were too fast to catch with spears, early humans ventured into the ocean on rafts, using nets or sturdy handmade hooks similar to those found at the site.
4. Porridge
Meat was scarce and difficult to obtain, so 10,000 years ago, our ancestors turned to a surprisingly modern solution: combining available starches to create a pre-agricultural porridge.
The invention of heat-resistant cooking pots made porridges and similar semi-liquid foods possible. These durable vessels revolutionized cooking, allowing for the preparation of meals that were previously unimaginable.
With these pots, early humans could transform food scraps and leftovers into nourishing meals like soups, stews, and porridge. Evidence of plant wax and oil residues in ancient pottery from the Takarkori and Uan Afuda sites in the Libyan Sahara supports this.
Second, cooking extended the shelf life of plants, allowing them to be stored for future use. Third, tough and fibrous plants became more palatable after being softened through cooking. Lastly, simmering could neutralize toxins in certain plants, making them safe to eat.
3. Juniper-Roasted Snails
While ancient humans occasionally feasted on woolly rhino meat, they often opted for safer food sources that posed no threat. Over 30,000 years ago, Spanish Homo sapiens pioneered the consumption of a now-luxurious delicacy: snails.
The Iberus alonensis land snail thrived during the transition from the Pleistocene (2.6 million to 12,000 years ago) to the Holocene (12,000 years ago to present). At Spain’s Cova de la Barriada cave, researchers uncovered 30,000-year-old snail remains, predating the previously oldest-known Mediterranean escargot samples by 10,000 years.
Similar to a gourmet dish at a French bistro, the snails were roasted over juniper wood embers at temperatures reaching 375 degrees Celsius (707 °F).
2. Rabbits
While a mammoth could feed a Neanderthal group for days, depending solely on large game was a risky strategy that often led to hunger.
To ensure a steady food supply, Neanderthals devised traps to capture small, fast, and abundant prey like rabbits. Excavations at eight Neanderthal sites in France, dating back 400,000 years, revealed that rabbit remains made up 80 to 90 percent of the animal bones found.
Some of the long bones had their ends intentionally broken, indicating that individuals gnawed on them to extract the nutrient-rich marrow inside.
This finding highlights the surprising ingenuity and adaptability of early humans. Unlike hunting larger animals such as deer or cattle, capturing rabbits required the use of traps or snares—an innovation typically attributed to modern humans. This method demanded strategic thinking over brute strength, which may have contributed to modern humans outlasting the Neanderthals.
1. Abundance of Roasted Sweet Potatoes
In Border Cave, located in the Lebombo Mountains along South Africa’s border with eSwatini, ancient humans feasted on roasted sweet potatoes over 170,000 years ago.
These charred starches, cooked over ashes nearly 200,000 years ago, are the oldest ever found. Using a scanning electron microscope, researchers were able to examine their internal structures despite their age.
Similar to modern sweet potatoes, the ancient Hypoxis could be consumed raw. However, cooking softened it, making it easier to digest and unlocking more of its caloric potential.
For context, the modern Hypoxis angustifolia is a nutritious food source, providing around 120 calories per 100 grams—slightly more than today’s sweet potatoes and significantly more than regular potatoes.
This plant grows year-round across Africa, making it an ideal food for sustaining migrations. Its clumped growth pattern also made it efficient to harvest. Evidence from the region suggests that the Paleo diet here was starch-heavy, with far less reliance on meat.
