Researchers investigating one of Australia’s oldest aboriginal sites have discovered new evidence that many ancient humans subsisted on a mainly vegetarian diet. The team found a collection of small charcoal samples, which contained traces of the different foods the site’s earliest residents cooked and ate. In all, the samples pointed to 10 different foods, including fruit seeds, nut shells, palm stem fragments, yam fibers and root peels. They also found traces of a small hard-shelled fruit called pandanus, which has edible nuts inside that are rich in protein and higher in fat than even coconut flesh. ‘And we can see that not just in these pieces of charcoal but also in the stone tool technology that comes with it.

Source: Daily Mail February 20, 2020 19:35 UTC