Message #166399

[High Evolutionary]

Prehistoric menu

Such dietary differences could have played a role in the extinction of Neanderthals roughly 24,000 years ago.

"I personally think [Neanderthals] were out-competed by modern humans," says Richards. "Modern humans moved in with different, more advanced technology and the ability to consume a wider variety of foods, and just replaced them."

He and colleague Erik Trinkaus at Washington University in St Louis, Missouri, compiled chemical measurements taken from bone collagen protein belonging to 13 Neanderthals and 13 modern humans, all recovered in Europe. They also added data collected from a 40,000-year-old human recovered in Romania's Oase cave.

Because our bones are constantly destroyed and rebuilt while we are alive, the atoms that make up collagen hold a record of what we've eaten. "When you take a sample of a bone you're getting all those breakfasts, lunches and dinners for 20 years," Richards says.