Neanderthals, our extinct cousins, are frequently depicted as consuming absolutely nothing however meat– no fruit, no grains, no greens. Did Neanderthals truly survive on meat alone?

While there’s lots of proof that Neanderthals frequently devoured on meat, a growing body of research study reveals our close evolutionary family members, who went extinct more than 30,000 years back, likewise consumed other parts of animals besides their meat, such as fat extract from the bone marrow, along with other foods, consisting of pistachios, lentils and wild peas.

“Multiple independent isotope studies now converge on the same conclusion,” Ludovic Slimaka paleoanthropologist at the University of Toulouse in France and author of “The Naked Neanderthal” (Penguin Books, 2023) and “The Last Neanderthal: Understanding How Humans Die” (Polity, 2025), informed Live Science in an e-mail. “Neanderthals consistently present the isotopic signatures of top-level carnivores.”

At the website of Gabasa in Spain, for instance, analyses of calcium, strontium and zinc isotopes revealed that Neanderthals were hypercarnivores who endured generally on meat and bone marrow. From what we understand, Neanderthals were pinnacle predators, Slimak stated, similar to wolves and hyenas, which sit at the top of the food cycle without any natural predators.

This concept is supported by earlier nitrogen isotope research studiesstated Hervé Bocherenshead of the biogeology research study group at the University of Tübingen in Germany.

Nitrogen can be found in 2 steady types, or isotopes: nitrogen-14 and the less typical nitrogen-15. When animals consume other animals, the much heavier nitrogen-15 gradually develops in their bodies. That suggests animals that consume meat have more nitrogen-15 than plant eaters.

“In most Neanderthal specimens that have been analyzed, the nitrogen-15 content was higher than those measured in large carnivores, such as cave lions, cave hyenas or wolves,” Bocherens informed Live Science in an e-mail. “The conclusion was that Neanderthals were ‘more carnivore than the carnivores’ (hypercarnivores).”

He included, this analysis is too basic. Nitrogen levels can differ depending upon which animals Neanderthals consumed, not simply just how much meat they took in.

“Woolly mammoths consistently exhibit the highest nitrogen-15 levels among herbivores, probably due to the consumption of plants with high nitrogen-15 levels,” Bocherens stated. The information recommend that Neanderthals were predators that took in a greater percentage of mammoths than they did of other predators in the community, Bocherens included.

A 2025 research study used a various description for Neanderthals’ abnormally high nitrogen-15 levels: They might have consumed maggots, either by mishap, in the procedure of consuming decomposing meat, or on function.

“Both rotting meat and especially maggots feasting on the rotting meat have high nitrogen levels and any Neandertal eating those foods regularly would have an isotopic signature that is off the charts,” April Nowella Paleolithic archaeologist and teacher of sociology at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, informed Live Science in an e-mail.

Could Neanderthals make it through on an entirely meat-based diet plan?

Archaeologists have actually discovered proof that Neanderthals soaked, pounded and ground lentils, nuts and yards at Shanidar Cave(envisioned here )in what is now Iraq and Franchthi Cave in modern-day Greece. (Image credit: ISMAEL ADNAN through Getty Images)“They could not if they had a similar physiology as modern humans, which is likely,” Bocherens stated. “There is a need for dietary sources of energy.” Consuming excessive protein without sufficient fat and carbswhich provide the majority of our energy, can cause a deadly condition referred to as protein poisoning or “rabbit starvation.”

Their option, researchers believe, was fat. At one 125,000-year-old German website, scientists discovered proof that Neanderthals methodically broke animal bones to extract fat from bone marrowAnimal brains were another likely source of fat, Bocherens stated.

When entire carcasses are taken in, consisting of marrow and fat reserves, an animal-based diet plan is completely practical, Slimak stated.

Neanderthals consumed more than meat and fat Neanderthals might have discovered innovative methods to stabilize their nutrition. They may have consumed the stomach contents of their plant-eating victim Chris Stringera research study leader in human origins at the Natural History Museum in London, informed Live Science in an e-mail.

Researchers concur that Neanderthals likewise consumed plants when they were readily available. “There is extensive evidence for plant eating by Neanderthals,” Nowell stated. That proof consists of real plant stays found in caverns, tiny traces left on stone tools, and even plant residues protected in oral plaque and fossilized feces.

Food stays discovered in modern-day Israel recommend Neanderthals consumed beans, acorns and pistachiosNowell stated. In Greece and Iraq, plant stays recommend they soaked, pounded and ground lentils, nuts and turfs — a type of cooking that might have assisted get rid of bitter tastes. In Gibraltar, scientists discovered the charred remains of edible plants like wild olives and stone pine nutsIn Italy, starch grains discovered on stone tools tip that Neanderthals were even making a type of flour.

At El Sidrón Cave in Spain, chemical analyses of oral plaque exposed that Neanderthals consumed plants like yarrow and chamomilemost likely for medical functions. And, at an outdoor historical site called El Salt in Alicante, Spain, scientists discovered substantial levels of plant sterols (fats in plants that resemble cholesterol) in fossilized Neanderthal feces.

In warmer areas, Neanderthals most likely collected a larger series of plant foodsconsisting of seeds, starchy root veggies like bulbs, and even dates in the hottest areas, stated Robert Powera research study fellow in the School of Archaeology at University College Dublin.

Neanderthals were proficient hunters who relied greatly on animal foods, “they varied their diets depending on where and when they lived, adapting to local foods and changing with the seasons,” Nowell stated.

Neanderthal test: How much do you learn about our closest family members?