Diet of ancient Andes hunter-gatherers was 80% plant-based, study finds

Hunter-gatherers living in South America around 9,000 years ago had a predominantly plant-based diet – challenging the widely held view that these societies were made up of mainly meat eaters, scientists have said.

Archaeologists at the University of Wyoming in the US analysed remains of 24 individuals from two burial sites in the Andes Mountains in Peru.

Chemical evidence from the bones revealed plant foods to be a major part (around 80%) of the diets