Around 6000 years ago in Northwest Europe, our ancestors transitioned from hunter-gatherer societies to sedentary farming. How did their diets change during this time? The field of archaeological sciences and chemistry teamed up to shed new light on this question.

In this episode, we ask Amy Styring, archaeological chemist at the University of Oxford, what's her take on a natural diet, whether we overestimate the role of meat in our past diets, and what lessons can we learn today if we have a better understanding of how people produced and ate food in the past?

This is the first of a two-part series. Next week we hear from a meal historian on the role culture plays in informing what we eat.

For more info and resources, visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast/episode59

Guests

• Amy Styring, Associate Professor at the University of Oxford

Episode edited and produced by Matthew Kessler. Music by Blue dot sessions.