Early man had rich taste buds

NEANDERTHAL cuisine was far more sophisticated than previously thought, experts have learned.

Until now it was widely assumed that the ancient humans who lived alongside our ancestors ate almost nothing but meat.

It was thought to have contributed to their downfall. But a new analysis of fossilised Neanderthal teeth has revealed evidence of a much richer diet, including vegetables and pulses, as well as an ability to cook.

Microscopic particles trapped in the teeth contained residues of wild grass, beans, roots and tubers, as well as palm dates.

Many had undergone physical changes that matched experimentally cooked starch grains. Researchers are trying to identify remains of other plants.

The evidence, from cave sites in Iraq and Belgium, suggests Neanderthals controlled fire in much the same way as early modern humans living more than 30,000 years ago.

Writing in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers led by Dr Dolores Piperno, from the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington DC, said: “Our results indicate that . . . Neanderthals made use of the diverse plant foods available in their local environment and transformed them into more easily digestible foodstuffs, in part through cooking them.”