Scientists know a substantial amount about the Neanderthals. Our closest cousins were short, stocky and armed with an arsenal of physiological adaptations that protected them from the cold around 300,000 to 40,000 years ago. They were social, gathering in groups of 10 to 30 individuals, and they were innovative, chipping away at stones, stitching clothing, and trading tools and trinkets amongst themselves.
But there are some details that scientists still struggle to understand and one of them is the Neanderthal diet.
Now, researchers in a study published in PNAS developed a new method for determining the diet of Neanderthals — a chemical analysis of their tooth enamel. According to the authors, the method can be applied to single individuals from various time periods and locations and has already shown that one Neanderthal from the Iberian Peninsula consumed a strictly carnivorous diet.
Many scientists have studied the nutritional habits of the ...
