Analysis of sediment samples from El Salt – a known site of Neanderthal occupation in Spain that dates back 50,000 years – suggests that Neanderthals predominantly consumed meat, but also had significant intake of plants, such as tubers, berries, and nuts.
Neanderthals consumed plants, too. Image credit: University of Utah via kued.org.
While zooarchaeological and stable isotope data have conveyed an image of Homo neanderthalensis as meat-eaters, some studies on microfossils trapped in Neanderthal teeth suggest they may have led a more complex lifestyle, harvesting and cooking plants in addition to hunting prey.
For a more direct approach, anthropologist Ainara Sistiaga from the University of La Laguna and her colleagues looked for fecal remains at the El Salt site in Alicante, Spain, where remnants of multiple Neanderthal occupations have been unearthed.
The scientists collected five small samples of soil at El Salt and analyzed them for metabolized versions of animal-derived cholesterol as well as phytosterol, a cholesterol-like compound found in plants.
While all samples contained signs of meat consumption, two samples showed traces of plants – the first direct evidence that Neanderthals may have enjoyed an omnivorous diet.
“There is more cholesterol in meat than there is phytosterol in plants – so it would take a significant plant intake to produce even a small amount of metabolized phytosterol,” said Sistiaga, who is the lead author of a paper published in the journal PLoS ONE.
“We believe Neanderthals probably ate what was available in different situations, seasons, and climates.”
It is also possible that Neanderthals didn’t eat plants directly, but consumed them through the stomach contents of their prey, leaving traces of plants in their teeth.
“Since no isotopic signatures have yet been found for plants that might be eaten by Neanderthals, determining whether Neanderthals consumed plants has been entirely a matter of guesswork until recently,” said Prof Richard Wrangham of Harvard University, who didn’t participate in the study.
“These lovely new data on fecal sterols confirm what many people have been increasingly thinking, which is that something is wrong with the inference that Neanderthals were 100 percent carnivores.”
“The data are a wonderful new source for challenging conventional wisdom. In the end it would not be surprising to find that Neanderthals show little difference from Homo sapiens in their diet composition.”
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Sistiaga A et al. 2014. The Neanderthal Meal: A New Perspective Using Faecal Biomarkers. PLoS ONE 9 (6): e101045; doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0101045
