ena-STUDY-MPIEVB-23-04-2018-11:43:59:375-627
The Iceman´s last meal consisted of fat, wild meat and cereals
The history of humankind is  marked by the constant adoption of new dietary habits affecting human physiology, metabolism and even the development of nutrition-related disorders. Despite clear archaeological evidence for the shift from hunter-gatherer lifestyle to agriculture in Neolithic Europe, very little information exists on the daily dietary habits of our ancestors. By undertaking a complementary -omics approach combined with microscopy, we analysed the stomach content of the Iceman, a 5300-year-old European glacier mummy. He seems to have had a remarkably high proportion of fat in his diet, supplemented with dried wild meat, cereals and with traces of toxic bracken. Our multipronged approach provides unprecedented analytical depth, deciphering the nutritional habit, meal composition, as well as the food processing methods of this Copper Age individual.
The history of humankind is  marked by the constant adoption of new dietary habits affecting human physiology, metabolism and even the development of nutrition-related disorders. Despite clear archaeological evidence for the shift from hunter-gatherer lifestyle to agriculture in Neolithic Europe, very little information exists on the daily dietary habits of our ancestors. By undertaking a complementary -omics approach combined with microscopy, we analysed the stomach content of the Iceman, a 5300-year-old European glacier mummy. He seems to have had a remarkably high proportion of fat in his diet, supplemented with dried wild meat, cereals and with traces of toxic bracken. Our multipronged approach provides unprecedented analytical depth, deciphering the nutritional habit, meal composition, as well as the food processing methods of this Copper Age individual.