To an archaeologist, what would be the best find to determine prehistoric diet?

Question

To an archaeologist, what would be the best find to determine prehistoric diet?

Answer 1

the size of the dishes they used

Answer 2

The best find of all would be of a human who was frozen in the permafrost in northern latitudes.  This would preserve all of the stomach contents in their varying digestive states, and give great evidence of what the diet was like (at least the last meal of that individual, which theoretically would not be all that different from other meals).  This has actually occurred in mammoth remains, in which the contents of the stomach were preserved and were able to be studied.

Answer 3

for an individual?  Mummy with a meal in its belly.  The issue with mummies is that the cause of death (they clearly died with the meal ingested) could result in a very abnormal last meal.  This meal may not represent the "average" diet from the population in question.

For a population, coprolites (preserved f***s).  Although bones and teeth can give you broad patterns of diet (Stable Isotopes) and inform on nutritional deficiencies or some processing techniques, coprolites are direct evidence of what people ate (or didn't eat since it passed through).  In most cases, individual specimens are discrete, allowing you to look at the dietary combinations of 1 individual over a short period of time (a type of resolution unavailable in most archaeological contexts).  Add thsi to the biochemical studies currently available and one could reconstruct s*x differences in diet (with sterols or DNA), date each specimen individually, analyze protien and lipid residues.  WHile coprolites do have some limitations (rarely preserve), there is no more direct source of evidince on prehistoric diet.  Residues on cooking vessels can also inform.

Answer 4

Teeth. Teeth of the prehistoric humans, to check for wear patterns. Then cooking utensils.

Answer 5

I would say teeth.  By looking at teeth, you can figure out what kind of diet was used.  For example, large flat teeth usually denotes seeds and fruit diets.

Answer 6

A mummy with a full belly.

Answer 7

What archaeologists really like are middens--piles of garbage.  That's where people threw all their food trash.

Teeth and bones are interesting but limited.  They can show certain nutritional deficiencies and disease states, but can't tell you exactly what a person ate.

Answer 8

corpolites