Cave man diet: What did humans 20,000-40,000 years ago really eat?

Question

I hear some people say that they only eat meat and vegetables because they believe that that's what our ancient ancestors evolved to do best with. A lot of these people also pig out on steaks and eat no grains whatsoever, even if they're "true" whole grains.

Then I see other sources say that it was the Neanderthals who ate mostly meat and that early Homo sapiens ate a variety of plant life more than they ate meat and that their more flexible diet may have been a possibility why they lived on and rwhy Neanderthals didn't.

Then I hear others who say that early humans had a lot higher proportion of omega-3 fatty acids in their diet compared to today and that less than 10% of their calories came from saturated fat, which is less than many modern human diets and definitely wouldn't go along with those who like to pig out on steak all day long.

What did the earlier humans 20,000-40,000 years ago really eat?

Answer 1

Plants, animal and human meat.

Answer 2

Isotope analysis of the bones shows humans ate about 70% flesh...this includes eggs, insects, fish, meat and fowl. This is the same in modern hunter gatherers (studies on links).

http://mathildasanthropologyblog.wordpre...

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/article...

Neanderthals ate more like 90% meat.

http://mathildasanthropologyblog.wordpre...

Most of the rest of the food would have been vegetables, fruits low in sugar (like berries) and nuts (more common in Europe). We would have eatern a much wider variety of food than we do now though, things like nettles, blackberries, all kinds of shellfish and snails, all kinds of carbohydrate heavy roots. One thing I can tell you from experience foraging, carbs are very uncommon in a hunter gatherer diet.Hunted meat, even red meat has a decent level of O3 oils in it, you don't need fish if you eat wild meat and eggs..

Wheat didn't seem to enter the human diet until about 25,000 years ago in Nubia, and it only reached Northern Europe about 4,000 years ago (and we still fed most of the grain to the cows).

http://mathildasanthropologyblog.wordpre...

About 3% of the Irish population is gluten intolerant, so eating 'true grains' isn't a great idea for everyone. The Saami eat virtually nothing but meat and dairy, but are remarkably healthy and no more prone to heart disease or cancer than anyone else, grains are a late inclusion into the human diet, and aren't even remotely necessary to stay healthy. Fresh fruit and veg will perform the same dietary function with none of the problems.

http://mathildasanthropologyblog.wordpre...

Answer 3

When I did a paper on this back in the (ancient) 1980's...the hunter gathering Neanderthals ate a diet of

75% - Plants ( gathered not grown)Flora

25% - Meat or Fauna

with women providing the majority of the harvested food

good luck

Answer 4

I suspect seeds, leafs, roots, berries, nuts, insects, fish, small and large animals one in a while as well.

Answer 5

Grains, berries, fruit, insects, grubs, herbs, eggs they manage to rob from bird's nests and whenever possible fresh meat.

I would say their diet would be probably similar to a bear's.