Neanderthal Plaque Revealed Diverse Diets

Neanderthal dental plaque showed that no single typical Paleo diet existed, with some individuals eating mostly meat while others appeared entirely vegetarian. In 2017, researchers sequenced food DNA preserved in plaque from five Neanderthals found at Spy Cave in Belgium and El Sidron Cave in Spain. One Belgian Neanderthal ate woolly rhinoceros, wild sheep, and mushrooms, while two Spanish Neanderthals consumed mushrooms, pine nuts, tree bark, and moss with no detectable traces of meat. One Spanish individual with a dental abscess and intestinal parasite also consumed poplar bark and Penicillium mold, possibly as natural medicine.

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