Fossilized poop shows that Neanderthals ate their veggies

Did the Neanderthals eat their vegetables? The answer to this question lies not in the tea leaves but in the poop.

It has long been assumed that the extinct humans were purely carnivorous and that the dietary differences from anatomically modern humans might have been responsible for their demise. But new evidence suggests that as well as enjoying a high meat intake, Neanderthals also had a significant plant element as part of their diets.

Researchers from MIT and the University of La Laguna made the discovery after examining the makeup of samples of what may be the oldest-known fecal matter, which date back about 50,000 years. Extracted from a Middle Paleolithic site in El Salt in Spain, the samples were examined for biomarkers that could be analyzed to identify dietary sources.