Researchers have found evidence that Neanderthals ate maggots as part of their diet, challenging long-held assumptions about their eating habits. The discovery was made through a study published in the journal Science Advances, which analyzed nitrogen levels in ancient human remains and fly larvae.
The researchers, led by assistant professor Melanie Beasley at Purdue University, found that maggots could explain a distinctive chemical signature detected in Neanderthal bones. This signature suggested that Neanderthals consumed animal meat laced with maggots on a regular basis.
To understand this signature, scientists study the chemical makeup of elements like nitrogen and carbon, which are preserved in teeth and bones over thousands of years. The researchers found that the fossilized bones of Neanderthals unearthed in Northern Europe had particularly elevated levels of nitrogen-15, a chemical signature that suggests their meat consumption was on par with hypercarnivores.
However, this finding was puzzling because modern humans can’t stomach large quantities of lean meat without risking malnutrition. The researchers suggested that rotten or decaying meat might be higher in nitrogen than fresh tissue and could have boosted nitrogen levels in Neanderthal bones.
To test their hypothesis, Beasley analyzed nitrogen levels in the rotting tissue of donated human corpses left outdoors and the fly larvae that formed in the muscle tissue. She found that nitrogen levels increased modestly over time in human tissue but were much higher in fly larvae.
The study’s findings have “opened a fascinating line of inquiry” into the culinary practices of Stone Age hunter-gatherers like Neanderthals, said Wil Roebroeks, professor emeritus of paleolithic archaeology at Leiden University. The discovery highlights that our Western perspective on what is edible and not edible may be biased.
The study’s authors also noted that many indigenous peoples around the world consume insects as part of their traditional diets, often intentionally allowing animal foods to decompose to the point where they were crawling with maggots.
Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2025/07/25/science/neanderthal-diet-maggots-rotten-meat