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PALAEOANTHROPOLOGY
Tooth analysis paints intimate picture of ancient lives.
The Neanderthals of El Sidrón Cave in northern Spain lived hardscrabble lives. But before they died some 50,000 years ago, they dined on mushrooms, moss and pine nuts. One individual may even have used plants and moulds to treat his ailments.
This intimate portrait is revealed in an analysis of DNA from the hardened tooth plaque of five Neanderthals (L. S. Weyrich et al. Nature http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature21674; 2017).
The study also reconstructs the first microbiomes from an extinct hominin species, and...