The real Paleo diet was plant-based

The theory that our ancient ancestors ate what has become known as a ‘Paleo diet’ is flawed on many levels. It assumes they ate mostly lean meat and fish but no dairy, some fruit and vegetables but no grains or pulses. However, evidence shows that people in Palaeolithic times ate a much more plant-based diet than this.

A tiny grape pip left on the ground some 780,000 years ago is just one of more than 9,000 remains of edible plants discovered in an old Stone Age site in Israel on the shoreline of Lake Hula in the northern Jordan valley. The collection provides evidence of the plant-based diet of our prehistoric ancestors. Of the remains found on site, Professor Goren-Inbar and Dr Yoel Melamed of the Faculty of Life Sciences at Bar Ilan University identified 55 different species of edible plants, including seeds, fruits, nuts, leaves, stems, roots and tubers.

“This region is known for the wealth of plants, but what surprised us were the sources of plant food coming from the lake. We found more than 10 species that existed here in prehistoric times but no longer today, such as two types of water nuts, from which seven were edible” said Dr Melamed.

These remains provide compelling evidence that our ancient ancestors enjoyed a varied, plant-based diet, including root vegetables, leafy veg, celery, figs, nuts, seeds and chenopodium seeds, which are similar to quinoa.

Melamed Y, Kislev ME, Geffen E et al. 2016. The plant component of an Acheulian diet at Gesher Benot Ya’aqov, Israel. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA. 113 (51) 14674-14679.