Early Humans and Plant-based Diets



The latest edition of Science journal (by the American Association for the Advancement of Science) reports that wooden tools from a 300,000-year-old site in Gantangqing (southwest) China demonstrate the importance of plant foods in early hominin (human) diets in a subtropical environment.  The journal contrasts this with other research oriented toward meat-focused early human diets.

Science writes that “Wooden tools recovered from a site in China… emphasize that ancient hominins ate their vetties too.  The 300,000 year-old implements are digging sticks, carved from branches and tree roots using stone blaades.  The pointing hand-size implements were probably used to harvest carbohydrate-rich tubers and roots from the soft ground of a prehistoric lakeshore.  …Along with the tools, researchers uncovered ample plant remains, including hazlenuts, pine nuts, grapes and kiwis.  In the lake and along its muddy shore, early hominins would also have been able to pluck and eat the leaves and seeds of water lillits.”  This includes edible leaves, seeds, or stems, especially subsoil corms and rhizomes.

See:  “Wooden Tools Point to Ancient Taste for Plans” by Andrew Curry, July 3, 2025 Science.  Also:  https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adr8540

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