By 10,000 BC, in the Mesolithic era, the hunter gatherers of Europe were thriving in a range of environments across the Continent. From about 7,000 BC Neolithic farmers spread across Europe bringing a new way of life, new languages, beliefs and social structures. Then around 3,000 BC, another great change came with the spread of cattle and horse herders from their homelands on the Pontic steppe all the way to the furthest corners of Europe, heralding the beginning of the European bronze age.

These three eras saw huge social, linguistic, and genetic changes but perhaps the most dramatic differences are to be found in their approaches to food.

So… what exactly did prehistoric Europeans eat?