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<\/a>Early humans ate processed plant foods long before farming, new study shows. Credit: Gary Todd<\/p>\nThis research challenges the long-standing view that plant foods became important only late in prehistory during the Epipaleolithic, when hunter-gatherers supposedly began using seeds, grasses, and other previously overlooked resources. Instead, researchers demonstrate that early humans were grinding wild seeds, cooking starchy roots, and processing nuts thousands of years earlier. Plant remains and stone tools with grinding residues at sites like Ohalo II in Israel and Madjedbebe in Australia illustrate the long tradition of complex food processing.<\/p>\n
This broad diet was not only a preference but also a physiological necessity. Humans can\u2019t subsist on lean meat alone. Our bodies have what\u2019s called a \u201cprotein ceiling,\u201d where too much protein without sufficient fat or carbohydrates leads to illness, and this is sometimes referred to as \u201crabbit starvation.\u201d In most environments, early people balanced meat with plant foods, rich in carbohydrates and energy. Studies of different hunter-gatherer societies show plants supplying 35\u201355% of calories, and sometimes even more in arid landscapes.<\/p>\n
The authors make the case that long-standing assumptions about a \u201cBroad Spectrum Revolution,\u201d a supposed late expansion of diet before farming, are outdated. Instead of a sudden shift, plant use appears to be a long-term adaptation that shaped human evolution<\/a>. Processing technologies \u2014 such as grinding stones, pounding tools, and cooking \u2014 allowed people to unlock nutrients from otherwise tough, bitter, or low-calorie plant resources. This flexibility helped humans occupy deserts, savannas, highlands, and temperate regions.<\/p>\n