What to expect:

Don’t get too excited now! Not sure yet if I can keep the pace of cranking out a video of this length every two weeks, but I was so hyped on the last one that I had to get this published. A monthly schedule will be more realistic going forward.

Anyway, we once again dive into ancestral diets. We look at what the archaeological record says about the types of food people consumed in ancient times. Then we compare that to what modern hunter-gatherers eat.

Neither of these are perfect sources to extract information about ancestral eating habits, but they are the best tools we have at this point. What they tell us is a story of human adaptability, represented by the diversity of foods that prehistoric people ate.

We also see that culture is highly influential on the human diet. Rituals, in the form of psychedelic mushroom feasts and cannibalistic burials, likely occurred throughout human history.

Enjoy!

What Did PREHISTORIC People Eat?

What if I told you that our ancestors' diets included everything from hippopotamus meat to psychedelic mushrooms? Would you believe me? It might sound surprising, but the prehistoric menu was incredibly rich and diverse. In this video, we'll dive into what humans ate for millions of years - before agriculture. 

We'll explore the fascinating world of hunting and gathering, where early humans used innovative techniques to hunt large game and forage for a variety of plant-based foods. We'll also uncover some unexpected food sources, like seafood, that played a crucial role in their diets.

But that's not all. I’m going to share with you the intriguing and controversial stoned ape theory, which suggests that the ingestion of psychedelic mushrooms may have influenced human evolution. And finally, we'll confront the darker aspects of prehistoric diets, including instances of cannibalism.

Join me as we journey back in time to uncover the true story of what our ancestors ate and how it shaped their survival and evolution. Whether you're a history buff, a health enthusiast, or just curious about the past, this exploration of prehistoric diets will give you a fresh perspective on our ancient relatives and their ways of life.

Part I: How do we know what we know?

Before we get started, let's just clarify what we mean by “prehistoric people”. We can roughly define the people discussed in this video as a.) those who lived before the advent of written history and b.) before the development of plant and animal domestication. 

There is no precise timeline for these criteria because some cultures adopted these traits earlier than others - some still haven’t left their hunter-gatherer ways. For example, it’s generally believed that agricultural practices began around 10-12,000 years ago in the Middle East. Yet we don’t see evidence of farming in eastern North America until about 3,000 years ago.

Similarly, writing began in different places at different times. The earliest system of writing we have evidence of comes again out of the Middle East, in Mesopotamia 3,500 years ago. However, many cultures indigenous to the Americas never developed a system of writing at all. 

So, while the timing might differ from region to region when discussing the diets of prehistoric people, we are discussing how people ate before agriculture and writing. This will encompass the vast majority of our species’ history, and will even include the history of the human species prior to Homo sapiens.

But, if these people didn’t document their day-to-day lives, how do we know what they ate? There are two methods we can use today to infer the diets of these prehistoric people. Archaeology is the first method. Using archaeological investigations, we can see what foods past humans were collecting, processing, eating, and discarding by excavating the lands they inhabited.

The second method is more indirect, which is to look at the diets of modern-day hunter-gatherers. Most societies around the world have adopted agricultural and/or industrial methods of food procurement, but some still live off the land, eating only undomesticated plants and animals. We shouldn’t assume that these peoples’ diets mirror exactly what prehistoric people ate, but their lifestyles are closer than those of more modern/westernized cultures. We can cautiously use them as an analogy to the past.

So, let’s see what the archaeological and ethnographic data suggest about the types of food ancestral humans ate.

Part II: Types of Foods Consumed

Meat and Animal Products

Humans are an inherently innovative species. Very few mammals can claim they’ve made nearly every biome on earth their home and no other species has developed a technological repertoire comparable to humans. With these innovative attributes, we can adapt to almost any circumstance. One of the earliest adaptations that defines our species is the widespread consumption of meat. 

Comparing modern humans to our closest primate relatives, the chimpanzee, we see how different our diets really are. Chimpanzees are mostly herbivores, eating fruit and foliage, and they occasionally hunt colobus monkeys [1]. However, “most chimpanzees eat far less meat than recorded for hunter-gatherers” [2]. Additionally, of the primates that do eat meat, humans are the only ones that habitually eat mammals larger than themselves. 

The precise moment when meat became a staple ingredient in the human diet is unknown. In all likelihood, it was a gradual adoption and not an instantaneous realization. The earliest archaeological evidence of meat eating by a human species comes from Ethiopia and dates to around 3.39 million years ago [3]. Here, the rib bone of a cow-sized ungulate and the femur of a goat-sized bovid were discovered with evidence of stone tool markings indicative of meat processing. 

The archaeologists responsible for the discovery say, “The cut marks demonstrate hominin use of sharp-edged stone to remove flesh from the femur and rib,” and “The percussion marks on the femur demonstrate hominin use of a blunt stone to strike the bone, probably to gain access to the marrow.”

After looking at the magnified images recorded by the researchers, it becomes quite obvious that these markings were produced by some human species using stone tools. Which species though? Being that the oldest evidence of Homo sapiens dates to 300,000 years ago in Morocco, it probably wasn’t one of us. It must have been an older species. The only hominin known to have lived in this location around this time was Australopithecus aferensis, fossils of which have been found in this very project area. This is the species to which the researchers attribute these markings. 

As we move forward in time, these types of bone markings only become more common. Ancient humans began refining their stone tool technologies, enabling them to capitalize on animals more effectively. Being the relatively weak creatures humans are, tools were essential to acquire meat in the competitive environments of prehistoric Africa. 

Two tool industries are particularly important when discussing early human meat consumption. The earlier is known as the Oldowan Industry. Oldowan stone tools are relatively crude-looking. To the naked eye, they are just rocks, but to the eye of a trained archaeologist, they mark some of the first stages in human technology. These tools date to around 2 million years ago, are often associated with Homo habilis, and are simply the product of smashing two cobbles together to create a sharp edge.

The following industry is a little more advanced. Known as the Acheulean Industry, these tools appear with the emergence of Homo erectus. We begin to see Acheulean tools in the archaeological record roughly 1.5 million years ago and they are identifiable by their symmetry. The construction of these tools required a little more forethought and precision than Oldowan tools because they result in a symmetric two-sided blade, rather than a single-edged stone. 

Anthropologists have argued that this transition in technology supports the idea that meat consumption was becoming more widespread around this time. Some argue that it’s also an indicator of how meat was acquired, suggesting that the Oldowan industry is more associated with scavenging and the Acheulean Industry with hunting [4]. So, let's look at two archaeological sites associated with these tools and the types of animals humans were eating.

East Africa is a hotbed for paleoanthropological research. Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Kenya have produced tons of ancient human fossils and tools. Places like Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania have yielded thousands of artifacts and fossils. The site of Kanjera, Kenya sits along the shore of Lake Victoria, just northeast of Olduvai Gorge.

Here, researchers have been investigating what they believe to be the earliest example of persistent carnivory [5]. They’ve collected non-human faunal remains found in an Oldowan context, dating to around 2 million years ago. After analyzing the remains, they found that the assemblage consists of bones attributable to small and medium-sized species. Of the small species, ungulates like gazelles were common. The medium-sized species included Topi remains as well as those of a now-extinct genus of African wildebeest known as Parmularius.

The types of bones ranged from femurs to mandibles, and the researchers identified evidence of cut marks and percussion marks on much of the assemblage. Up to 12.9% of the rib fragments from small-bodied species and 7.5% from medium-bodied species exhibit cut marks. Coupled with the stone tool marks on various long bones and axial skeletal parts, it becomes clear that these hominins were processing and consuming these animals.

Research related to the Acheulean Industry has been conducted at the aforementioned Olduvai Gorge. Bell's Korongo was the first site at the gorge chosen for large-scale excavation by the famous Leakey family of anthropologists. This was due to the abundance of large animal fossils they observed alongside stone tools. 

A study published in 2014 took on the task of analyzing the faunal remains from one of this site’s soil layers dating to around 1.35 million years ago [6]. Similar to the Kanjera site, small and medium-sized animal remains were present. However, unlike the Kanjera site, Bell’s Korongo included fossils from megafauna - large-bodied animals. 

Archaeologists determined that this assemblage consists of 35 different animals (not species). Of the 870 bones found in total, 412 of them were attributed to megafauna species. This exceeds the number of medium-sized animal bones (379), and far surpasses that of smaller animals (79).

What were some of these large mammals? Elephant, hippopotamus, and even rhinoceros carcasses are some examples. Additionally, two now-extinct species were present. One, known as Pelorovis oldowayensis, was a buffalo-like species that lived in Africa from 2.5 million to 800,000 years ago. The other was a giraffe-like species called Sivatherium giganteum, which lasted from 7 to 1 million years ago. 

When interpreting their findings, the researchers said, “This evidence supports that meat consumption was tightly linked to the physiology that shaped the evolution of our genus. Hunting was an integral part of the adaptive behavior of H. erectus although megafaunal exploitation may have included more opportunistic behaviors.” 

They argue that Homo erectus likely hunted the small-to-medium-sized animals found at this site, but scavenged for the large-bodied creatures. 

Marine Resources

Our hominin lineage did not confine its foraging to the land though. Let’s explore the subsistence strategies of a later human species, the Neanderthals. Homo neanderthalensis, or the Neanderthals, lived mostly in Europe, appearing in the archaeological record around 500,000 years ago and going extinct around 30,000 years ago. One fact that often surprises people about Neanderthals is that their brains were as large and sometimes larger than the brains of Homo sapiens. They put those big brains to use and expanded their dietary repertoire along the coasts of Portugal. 

Neanderthals weren’t just brutish hunters of large game. A recent study looking at a Neanderthal cave site on the Mediterranean waters found evidence of maritime subsistence strategies [7]. This site was occupied intermittently from 86,000 to 106,000 years ago. Here, archaeologists discovered what are called middens, which are essential piles or pits full of things that the inhabitants discarded. They are ancient trash bins.

What they found in these middens was a plethora of marine resources. The remains of mussels, shells, crabs, fish, sharks, and even eels were among these resources. Some of these even show evidence of being cooked, like the “dark-brown color of several eel bones.” Additionally, the breaks in the crab claws mimic breakage patterns in the modern consumption of crab.

Modern Hunter-Gatherer Diversity 

Now let’s fast forward to today and look at modern Homo sapien hunter-gatherers. Do they eat meat and seafood? What about fruits and vegetables? The answer is… well… yes, to all of it. It just depends on where you look.

As I said earlier, adaptability is a defining feature of our species. Part of that adaptability is the capacity to shift our diets in response to the environments we live in. When we look at people who still live off of the land, without agriculture, we can see this in action. I love this quote and reference it almost whenever I’m discussing prehistoric diets, but anthropologists Herman Pontzer and Brian Wood have said, “The only unifying features among hunter-gatherer diets are breadth and variability” [8].

And it’s true. If we travel to certain parts of the world, meat is an essential resource. Humans occupy even the coldest of environments, but plants seldom do. As you move further from the equator, you will observe a higher dependency on meat by modern hunter-gatherers [9]. This is because these climates aren’t too accommodating for fruits and vegetables. As a result, these people live almost solely on meat and seafood.

However, if we travel to lower latitudes, closer to the equator, we see that plants are more accessible. Here, fruit becomes a staple of hunter-gatherer diets. For some groups, this means almost 100% of their diets. For others, it means a generally more diverse diet. A great example of this diversity comes from the Hadza of Tanzania. 

The Hadza people are an indigenous ethnic group living near Lake Eyasi in the central Rift Valley and in the neighboring Serengeti Plateau. They are one of the last remaining hunter-gatherer communities in the world, whose lifestyles and social organization have remained largely unchanged for thousands of years, offering valuable insights into the prehistory of early Homo sapiens. 

Despite pressures from modern society and encroaching agriculture, the Hadza have maintained their unique culture and connection to their land, which is central to their identity and survival. Rather, they rely on traditional methods of foraging. 

The foods that the Hadza eat essentially fall into five categories: honey, meat, baobab, berries, and tubers [8]. The amount of meat they eat depends on the season. In the dry season, they derive a large percentage of their calories from hunting buffalo, impalas, and even baboons. However, that all shifts during the wet season, when a greater percentage of their diet comes from things like berries, honey, and baobab. 

So, not only does it depend on where you like geographically, but it depends on when you make your observations as well. 

Carbs and Grains

Now that we’ve introduced plants into the prehistoric palette, what about grains and carbs? It was a long-held belief that grains were not consumed by humans until the Agricultural Revolution, around 10-12,000 years ago. Further investigations suggest that this was not the case. Archaeologically, it can sometimes be more difficult to find evidence of plant remains than bones from animals, but we’ve managed to collect some examples of prehistoric people processing grains for consumption.

Investigations into one Neanderthal site in France have yielded artifacts with the apparent function of making starchy plants more digestible [10]. Known as the site of Payre, it dates from 125,000 to 250,000 years ago and consists of these plant processing tools. After putting them under a microscope, researchers discovered the remnants of starch grains and phytoliths from plant tissue. They suspect that these tools were specifically used for things like seeds and hard tubers, which are hard to procure with bare hands. 

Later sites looking at Homo sapiens have unearthed similar artifacts. For example, a study published in 2010 showed that starch grain consumption was likely widespread in Europe around 30,000 years ago, based on artifact analyses [11]. When looking at grinding stones from sites in three different countries (Italy, Russia, and the Czech Republic), the researchers found “evidence of starch grains from various wild plants.” Flour was one of these plants, and the authors of this study suggest that processing this flour would have entailed peeling, drying, grinding, and likely cooking. 

These discoveries significantly alter our understanding of prehistoric diets, highlighting that our ancestors were processing and consuming grains long before the advent of agriculture. The evidence from both Neanderthal and Homo sapiens sites indicates that the consumption of starchy plants and grains was widespread, showcasing the ingenuity and adaptability of our prehistoric ancestors. This challenges the traditional narrative and suggests that early humans had a more complex and diverse diet, utilizing available resources to ensure their survival.

However, what humans decide to eat is affected by more than just the nutritional requirements for survival. 

Thus far we’ve looked at the typical examples of what you would expect in a video about prehistoric diets. But, I don’t want to stop there. Our species and its lineage is an exploratory one - one that looks out into the unknown with curiosity. We are also opportunistic and influenced by our cultural surroundings. As a result, there are more interesting and even darker sides of the consummatory habits of prehistoric people.  

Part III: The Stoned Ape Theory

In 1992, Terence McKenna published his book "Food of the Gods: The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge" [12]. In it, McKenna suggested that the consumption of psychedelic mushrooms played a crucial role in the evolution of human consciousness and cognitive abilities.

His theory is rooted in his observations and experiences with psychoactive substances, as well as his interest in the origins of human culture and consciousness. He proposed that early hominins, particularly Homo erectus and Homo sapiens, consumed these mushrooms while foraging in the African savannah. The psychoactive effects of psilocybin, the active compound in these mushrooms, may have contributed to significant evolutionary advancements by enhancing visual acuity, stimulating the development of language, and promoting social bonding and creativity.

After years of not being taken too seriously, popular media figures like Joe Rogan and Terence’s brother Dennis have brought his hypothesis to the forefront of public awareness. By no means is it now an accepted theory that explains the hard problem of consciousness, but does it have any scientific credibility? Some evolutionary anthropologists suggest it might.

José Arce out of the University of Costa Rica and Michael Winkleman from Arizona State University recently collaborated on a paper published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology called, “Psychedelics, Sociality, and Human Evolution” [13]. In it, they outline an updated interpretation of the “Stoned Ape Theory” based on the scientific literature.

Their thesis is as follows: 

Let’s simplify this a little bit.

The socio-cognitive niche of humans is essentially the idea that our species is composed of cognitively powerful individuals that collectivize into groups, and whose collective intelligence (i.e., culture) emerges as a great advantage evolutionarily. Psychedelic mushrooms, they argue, helped construct and or reinforce this niche. Their argument is made of two sets of scientific observations.

First is the availability of psychoactive mushrooms to early hominins. They show how these fungi are widely distributed across ecozones and can be found on every continent. Importantly, they are also more commonly found on the ground than in the tree canopy. So, the transition to walking on the ground would have initially increased hominin exposure to psychedelic mushrooms at the earliest stages of our lineage.

Moreover, when we think about the foraging strategies of the Homo genus and the even older Australopithecines, we see an even greater probability of exposure and consumption. The authors of this study discuss two of the main food sources for these species. One was roots and tubers and the other was ungulate-like mammals. 

Roots and tubers have underground storage organs where the bulk of their caloric energy is stored. They must be dug up to be taken advantage of. These would have been fallback foods for early hominins whose primary food options were scarce. When scouring the ground for such calories, they surely would have stumbled across countless species of fungi, including those with psychoactive properties. 

As for the ungulates, ancient humans would have hunted or scavenged for them. One effective method used to search for wild game is to follow their bodily waste - their poop. Psilocybe cubensis, one of the most notable species of psychedelic mushrooms grows on the fecal matter of herbivores like ungulates. The very techniques of following the fecal tracks of their prey would have further increased hominins’ exposure to these compounds. 

The second observation they make concerns the effects of psychedelic mushrooms after ingestion. The authors cite multiple studies supporting the idea that psychedelic experiences can lead to various potentially adaptive effects. Those include, but aren’t limited to: increased positive mood, emotional empathy, trust, and openness; as well as decreases in social disconnection, negative emotion, and neuroticism. 

From a more neuroscientific perspective, by acting as serotonin analogs in the brain, psychedelic compounds can have positive results for stress management, creativity, and sociality. There is also evidence that they can promote neuroplasticity. Lastly, they likely amplify symbolic behavior - something rather unique to the human lineage.

Taking all of this into consideration, it’s very plausible that ancestral humans would have first consumed psychedelic mushrooms incidentally while foraging for other foods. This would have sent them into trance-like experiences in group settings, resulting in altered states of mind and novel social dynamics. Over time, the consumption of these fungi would have been proactively sought after and incorporated into cultural rituals - into ancient psychedelic feasts. 

The evolutionary advantage would have been a more interconnected cultural group whose individuals were less stressed and more cognitively flexible and creative.

Humans are a ritualistic species. From psychedelic mushrooms to religion to birthdays, we engage in ritual. However, not all rituals come with cake and smiles. Some are more taboo and will send chills down your spine. What follows is an uncomfortable truth about prehistoric diets.

Part IV: Cannibalism in Prehistory

In the South Pacific, there is a collection of cultures that were relatively isolated from the modern world until very recently. They’re islanders who made places like Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, and the Solomon Islands their home thousands of years ago. They developed unique rituals and cultural practices. It wasn’t until Polish anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski studied a population of these people in the early 20th century that their practices were extensively documented.

He traveled to the Trobriand Islands and explored their Kula Ring practice. The Kula Ring is essentially a network of shell trading between people from different islands, but it is not an economic form of trade. It is ceremonial, with rules like certain types of shells being traded only clockwise around the islands, while others are traded in the opposite direction. It is a form of exchange used to solidify social bonds, not purchase goods and services. 

More recently, researchers explored an unsettling practice among these islanders. In the 1950s, people started to recognize that the Fore people indigenous to Papua New Guinea were coming down with a strange illness. American physician and medical researcher Dr. Carleton Gajdusek, along with his colleagues, began studying the disease extensively.

Their research identified what’s now known as kuru, a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE). It’s a human form of mad cow disease. 

Kuru is caused by infectious prions, or misfolded proteins, that induce other proteins to also misfold, leading to brain damage. The spread of kuru was closely linked to the practice of cannibalism, wherein the Fore people consumed the tissues of deceased relatives during funeral rituals as an act of mourning and respect. This practice, unfortunately, facilitated the transmission of the infectious prions, leading to an outbreak of kuru.

Here’s a quote by Shirley Lindenbaum describing her observations of the ritual (warning: it’s a little disturbing):

When the Fore people developed their practice of cannibalism is unknown, but archaeological evidence suggests that it started around the world much earlier than when these islands were first inhabited.

The earliest evidence we have pointing to cannibalism in the archaeological record comes from Koobi Fora, Kenya. Here, 1.4 million-year-old hominin fossils bear the marks of a human that was likely eaten by another human [15]. Researchers studying the remains aren’t sure which species of hominin this bone belongs to, but they are confident that the cut marks and tooth marks can be attributed to a human-like species. When compared to butchery marks found on animal bones processed by ancient humans, they are almost indistinguishable. 

When looking at a site that old, it’s hard to tell if the act of cannibalism is attributable to cultural rituals like the Fore people, or if it was strictly for survival. That being said one study has shown that while the nutritional value of a human body is to be as expected for an animal our size, it is significantly less than many of the animals found at other archaeological sites [16]. Therefore, it seems unlikely that ancient humans would choose to eat each other for subsistence if better options were available. 

Moving forward in time, to when Homo sapiens were firmly establishing their presence in Europe, we see significant evidence of cannibalism related to burial practices. The primary cultural groups associated with some of Europe’s earliest Homo sapien inhabitants are divided into three groups:

• Aurignacian Culture (approx. 45,000 – 25,000 years ago)

• Gravettian Culture (approx. 33,000 – 21,000 years ago)

• Magdalenian Culture (approx. 17,000 – 12,000 years ago)

Some researchers suggest an association between the Aurignacian culture and burials, but they don’t really become common until the Gavettian and Magdalenian cultures. In 2023, a paper was published looking specifically at Magdalenian burial rituals in the archaeological record and how they relate to cannibalism [17]. 

They reviewed 59 sites in total that included human remains and came to two conclusions. First, was a breakdown of burial practice. Of the 59 sites, 25 were indicative of funerary behavior - intentional burials. Of those, 13 showed evidence of “anthropic modification” - aka markings that resemble those of cannibalized remains. Some of these were explicitly ritualistic, showing skull modification and engravings.

Second, they discovered genetic correlates to these behaviors. They revealed that individuals from Magdalenian sites with evidence of cannibalism shared a genetic marker known as GoyetQ2. In contrast, the genetic markers of those from typical burials that lacked evidence of cannibalism were distinctly different. This suggests that different genetic-cultural groups had distinct funerary rituals, and one often included cannibalistic behaviors.

By examining these practices through the lens of archaeology and genetics, we can better understand the diverse ways in which early humans interacted with their environment and each other. Cannibalism, while often viewed through a lens of horror, reveals much about human adaptation, survival, and the development of social and cultural norms. As we continue to uncover more about our ancestors, these insights help us appreciate the complexities of human prehistory and the diverse ways in which cultures have evolved.

Conclusion

So what conclusions can we draw from studying the diets of our ancient human ancestors?

First and foremost, based on the evidence we have, there is little support for any single diet that defines the human species. Our eating habits have always been as diverse as the geographic landscapes you can find us inhabiting. We are opportunistic omnivores, capable of eating everything from honey to elephants. This has contributed to the evolution of our lineage by increasing our overall ecological adaptability.

Second, humans treat food differently than most other animals. It’s not solely an endeavor of survival. It is cultural, symbolic, and ritualistic. Consuming psychedelic compounds is just one example of this. The likelihood of prehistoric people finding psychoactive mushrooms as they foraged for other foods seems high and it would’ve been a matter of time until they made the transition from incidental ingestion to institutionalized practice.

Cannibalism is yet another example of human ritual. It seems unlikely that people would have proactively hunted each other down for nutritional purposes, especially considering the more calorically significant fauna they were already hunting. Rather, cannibalism became a practice most associated with the burial of group members and loved ones. It only would have been on the rarest of occasions that people resorted to cannibalism for survival.

References:

[1] Pruetz, J. D., et al. 2015. “New evidence on the tool-assisted hunting exhibited by chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) in a savannah habitat at Fongoli, Sénégal.” R. Soc. Open Sci 2:140507.

[2] Watts, D. P. 2020. “Meat eating by nonhuman primates: a review and synthesis.” J. Hum. Evol 149:102882.

[3] McPherron, S., et al. 2010. “Evidence for stone-tool-assisted consumption of animal tissues before 3.39 million years ago at Dikika, Ethiopia.” Nature 12;466(7308):857-60.

[4] Martínez-Navarro, B. 2018. “Oldowan Scavengers Vs. Acheulian Hunters: What Does the Faunal Record Say?” Global Journal of Archaeology and Anthropology 6(1).

[5] Ferraro, J., et al. 2013. “Earliest Archaeological Evidence of Persistent Hominin Carnivory.” PLOS ONE 8(4): e62174.

[6] Domínguez-Rodrigo, M., et al. 2013. “On meat eating and human evolution: a taphonomic analysis of BK4b (Upper Bed II, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania), and its bearing on hominin megafaunal consumption.” Quaternary International 322(2).

[7] J. Zilhão et al. 2020. “Last Interglacial Iberian Neandertals as fisher-hunter-gatherers.” Science 367, eaaz7943.

[8] Pontzer, H. and Wood, B. 2021. “Effects of Evolution, Ecology, and Economy on Human Diet: Insights from Hunter-Gatherers and Other Small-Scale Societies.” Annual Review of  Nutrition 41:363-385.

[9] Pontzer, Herman, et al. 2018. “Hunter-gatherers as models in public health.” Obesity Reviews 19(1):24-35.

[10] Hardy, B. and, Moncel, MH. 2011. “Neanderthal Use of Fish, Mammals, Birds, Starchy Plants and Wood 125-250,000 Years Ago.” PLOS ONE 6(8): e23768.

[11] Revedi, A., et al. 2010. “Thirty Thousand-Year-Old Evidence of Plant Food Processing.” PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 107(44):18815-9.

[12] McKenna, T. K. 1992. Food of the gods: the search for the original tree of knowledge: a radical history of plants, drugs, and human evolution. Bantam Books.

[13] Rodríguez Arce, JM., and Winkelman, M. 2021. "Psychedelics, Sociality, and Human Evolution." Frontiers in Psychology 12:729425-729425.

[14] Lindenbaum, S. 2013. Kuru sorcery: Disease and danger in the New Guinea Highlands. (2nd ed.). Routledge.

[15] Pobiner, B., et al. 2023. “Early Pleistocene cut marked hominin fossil from Koobi Fora, Kenya.” Sci Rep 13, 9896.

[16] Cole, J. 2017. “Assessing the calorific significance of episodes of human cannibalism in the Palaeolithic.” Sci Rep 7, 44707.

[17] Marsh, W. and Bello, S. 2023. “Cannibalism and burial in the late Upper Palaeolithic: Combining archaeological and genetic evidence.”Quaternary Science Reviews 319(8):108309

Song Suggestion

Music is a human universal. It’s found in every culture, at every corner of the globe. The Evolve.2 song suggestions are hand-picked by yours truly. I love all types of music, but here, I like to share some of my more extreme tastes.

(Caution: These songs consist of heavy, brutal guitar riffs and gruesomely guttural vocals. I timestamp what I believe to be the best riff of the song. You’ve been warned.)