Neanderthals Ate Their Veggies - According to Their Poo

We may think of Neanderthals as a primitive, dead-end branch on humanity's family tree, but at least they ate their vegetables — can you say the same? Scientists from MIT and the University of La Laguna in Spain made an odorous discovery at El Salt, a roughly 50,000-year-old Neanderthal settlement: prehistoric poo, merged with soil but still verifiably from human metabolism. The waste contained various chemical biomarkers indicating what had been processed. While coprostanol — formed when meat is eaten — was abundant, there was also quite a bit of 5B-stigmastanol, which is derived from plants. So Neanderthals weren't just meat-eaters — they ate plants, tubers and berries as well, probably whatever was available. “It’s important to understand all aspects of why humanity has come to dominate the planet the way it does,” said MIT giobiology professor Roger Summons, co-author of the study, which appears in the journal PLoS ONE. “A lot of that has to do with improved nutrition over time.”

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Nearly Neanderthal: Skulls Reveal the Steps in Human Evolution

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FOR SUBSCRIBERSAmerican passenger drafted goodbye texts to her family as Flydubai plane plummeted

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation pushes embattled New York prosecutor into national spotlight

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation spotlights stringent New York state laws that have long drawn criticism

Scientists Argue That Neanderthals Weren't Incompetent Dimwits

Well-organized Neanderthals tidied up around the cave

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