Neanderthals loved the sweet, for example, dates. To this conclusion came the researchers who studied the remains of food found between the teeth of ancient people, according to Discovery News. But at the same time, their diet included vegetables and barley.

Experts examined the remains of Neanderthals from 44,000 to 36,000 years old from Iraq and Belgium. The anthropologist Amanda Henry of the Center for Advanced Studies in Paleobiology of Hominids, who is leading this research, emphasizes that ancient people cooked barley (baked or cooked like a porridge), which in many ways makes them similar to modern people.

This completely overturns the traditional notion of the human ancestors as "primitive monkeys". And the analysis of the area where the remains were found suggests that the Neanderthals also had access to nuts and plant relatives of chicory and lettuce.

From this scientists conclude: the ancient people ate as richly as modern. Probably, it helped them to develop. A more detailed comparative analysis of the diet will allow researchers to shed light on the continuity of diseases that plague modern humans.

News. Gradusnik. En.