During the early periods of the Stone Age, the Earth was still covered in large sheets of ice. As the earth warmed up and oceans formed, animals and humans evolved along with the climate. What did Neanderthals eat during this time? During the hunter-gatherer phase of human history, the Paleolithic diet consisted heavily of raw meat and fish. Large mammals were the most abundant and widely available prey. Stone Age animals included animals like mammoths, woolly rhinoceroses, bears, reindeer, and wolves. In places with warmer climates, such as Africa, the types of animals hunted and consumed included elephants, hippos, and hyenas. Fishing was also an important source of food and provided early humans with salmon, eel, whale, lobster, and crab.
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In the earliest era of the Stone Age, the Paleolithic diet consisted of raw meat and fish. Before humans learned how to create fire and use it to cook food, the animals were eaten raw. Raw meat was consumed for approximately the first one million years of human existence. All parts of the animals were eaten, consumed, or harvested to be used in other ways. Raw meat is packed full of calories, vitamins, and nutrients. Eating this nutritionally dense raw meat and animal fat allowed humans to earn more energy through the foods they ate. This energy was converted in the body to fuel human evolution. Eating raw meat allowed early humans to grow larger and more complex brains, and their bodies underwent significant evolutionary changes, especially in their stature, height, facial structure, and teeth.
All parts of the animal were used by Stone Age peoples. While raw meat, organs, marrow, and fat were consumed and eaten, animal fur and skins were used for clothing or shelter, and the bones were harvested for tools, such as hooks, spears, or needles. By the end of the Paleolithic era, early humans learned to cook food using fire, which changed human lifestyle and diet significantly.
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The Stone Age was a long period in human history that saw many advancements in human evolution and is characterized by three periods: the Paleolithic era, the Mesolithic era, and the Neolithic era. During the Paleolithic and Mesolithic eras, the Stone Age diet consisted primarily of raw meat and organs, fish, nuts, seeds, and berries. Paleolithic and Mesolithic people were hunter-gatherers that migrated along with animal herds to sustain their survival. Common Stone Age animals consumed during this period included mammoths, elephants, rhinoceroses, and fish. Raw meat and organs were nutritionally dense and provided Paleolithic humans with protein and nutrients, which allowed humans to evolve over time.
During the Paleolithic era, humans evolved from Neanderthals to Cro-Magnon, the earliest version of modern humans, through the use of tools and cooked foods. The Ice Age ended during the Mesolithic era, which saw a reduction in available land with rising sea levels. People during this time began to cook meat as well as forage for nuts, seeds, and berries. At the end of the Stone Age, Neolithic Cro-Magnon people consumed much more diverse foods thanks to the advent of agricultural farming and animal domestication. Diet at the end of the Stone Age consisted of cooked meat, fish, nuts, seeds, berries, fruits, vegetables, and grains.
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Video Transcript
The Stone Age
If you travelled back in time 2.5 million years ago, the lifestyles of our ancestors would pose stark contrasts to our lives today. From this time to about 4000 years ago, our ancestors used stone tools for weapons and survival, which is why we call this period the Stone Age. It was very cold during this time period as well, as much of the earth's water was frozen, exposing more land than is visible today. For these reasons, much of the Stone Age period is also called the Ice Age.
As humans advanced in their technology and understanding of the world around them, both mankind and their tools developed during three distinct periods of the Stone Age. The Paleolithic Era (Old Stone Age) began around 2.5 million years ago and ended about 11,000 years ago. This part of the Stone Age was known for its simple stone tools as well as the first cave drawings.
The second part of the Stone Age is called the Mesolithic Era (Middle Stone Age), and it began around 11,000 years ago and lasted until around the end of the Ice Age, roughly 9,000 years ago. The earth began to warm up more, leading to less exposed land due to the melting of the glaciers.
The last part of the Stone Age, called the Neolithic Era (New Stone Age), began roughly around 9,000 tp 7,000 BCE and marked the start of a revolutionary new way of life. For the first time, mankind began to farm and domesticate animals for food and labor. This change in human behavior was called the Neolithic Agricultural Revolution.
The Stone Age Diet
Much has been made in recent years of the new fad diet trend called the Paleo Diet, characterized by foods that are non-processed for a more holistic and natural lifestyle. However, there are many aspects of this Paleo Diet that our Stone Age counterparts did not enjoy.
Neanderthals & Cro-Magnons
During much of the Paleolithic Era, Neanderthals still existed, and they had much larger bodies than modern humans have, and thus would have needed a diet that was richer in proteins and carbohydrates in order to navigate their painstaking, energy consuming lives. Toward the end of the Paleolithic Era, the Neanderthals died out and were replaced by Cro-Magnons, which were more like modern humans, but still had larger bodies in much the same way as their Neanderthal counterparts. Their jaws and foreheads were much more pronounced than ours are today, and their bodies were also much larger and muscular (and therefore, in need of the same protein-rich diet).
Hunter-Gatherers
Much of the diet of humans who lived in the Stone Age and the Ice Age would have been dependent on the areas in which they lived. Farming was not done until the Neolithic Era, so Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons would have been what were called hunter-gatherers, or nomads who followed the animals they subsisted on as they migrated due to weather and mating habits. As animals migrated, humans wouldn't have been far behind. The animals would have been used for not only meat but also for clothing.
Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons would have also eaten the berries and fruits that were in season as they migrated along with the animals. There were, however, no grain foods to eat, like wheat, sorghum, or barley, as these foods would have needed cultivation. Grain foods did become prevalent during the Neolithic Era, but during the Paleolithic and Mesolithic Eras they would have been a non-staple food.
Types of Food
Humans who lived during the Stone Age would have been huge meat eaters. Hunting and fishing were essential to survival during these periods, but the cold of the Ice Age also played a part. During the Ice Age, hunting and fishing would have been the main source of food for humans, as there wouldn't have been many fruits, seeds, or other plant parts available due to the cold climate.
Humans hunted large animals, like the woolly mammoth and mastodon. These animals were used for clothing culled from their hides, as again, it would have been very cold during the Ice Age. Fishing was of great importance and added nuance to their diet, especially in coastal areas where fishing would have been easier and more convenient. Early humans ate fish like salmon, as well as crabs, lobsters, and large eels.
Later on, as the Ice Age ended and climates became warmer, early human diets exploded with new options. Seeds, nuts, and various fruits would have thrived in the newer warm climates around the Earth and offered a welcomed addition. Eggs were also of much value and could be obtained by pilfering bird's nests. Eggs offered a quick and less dangerous form of protein that early humans could gather without the need for hunting.
The main difference between the Paleo Diet we think of today and the actual Paleo diet was the consumption of raw meat. Fire didn't become a part of human life until about 1 million years ago, which means that for the first 1 million years or so of the Stone Age, our ancestors ate their meat raw. As they were eating many organ-based forms of meat (like livers and kidneys) for their high protein counts, meat consumption would have been a tough endeavor. After the discovery of fire during the Paleolithic Era, it was used for cooking as well as warmth.
Lesson Summary
The lives of those who lived during the Stone Age were very different than ours are today. During the Paleolithic Era, there were simple tools and the advent of fire. During the Mesolithic Era, Cro-Magnons arrived and lives changed as the earth warmed and the Ice Age came to an end. During the Neolithic Era, man learned to farm.
The diets of our early ancestors differed as well and were comprised of raw organ meat from large animals and saw fish as staples in coastal regions. After the end of the Ice Age, diets became more diverse and included more fruits and seed-bearing plants. By the end of the Stone Age, humans began to farm and their diets expanded to include grain plants like wheat and barley.
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