AHS18

Past attempts to estimate the plant: animal ratio of the Paleolithic Diet (e.g., Eaton and Konner, 1985; Cordain et al., 2000; Marlowe, 2005; Kuipers et al., 2010) were based mainly on recent hunter-gatherers’ data. I show that the available ethnographic data is misleading in that it is historically inaccurate and even if it were, significant technological and ecological changes since the Paleolithic prevents the application of this data to the prediction of Paleolithic diets.Archaeology is also a poor source of quantitative prediction of the plant: animal ratio of the Paleolithic diet since plants residues are only rarely preserved.This state of affairs leaves the human physiological record, such as anatomy, metabolism, and genes, as the primary source where an evolutionary record of past plant: animal ratio in the diet is preserved. This record is reviewed, and a clear picture of the plant: animal ratio to which we evolved emerges.