One of the most interesting things is how many sciences inform archaeology, and how few sciences are willing to be informed by archaeology.
High grain diets archaeologically are associated with increased tooth decay and tooth loss rates and lower life-expectancy than high-meat and high-dairy diets. Overly high dairy diets are associated with anemia (probably because cow milk decreases the ability of humans to absorb iron from foods). The Vikings were eating butter smeared on dried fish for breakfast and living significantly longer (and with very low rates of dental caries) than the grain-eating Continental Europeans of the same time. Indeed a Scandinavian living to 5 could expect to live to an older age than a Frenchman living to 20 despite the fact that life expectancy was so heavily slanted by childhood deaths in both cases.
Our conventional wisdom of nutrition is basically plausible hypothesis... if you ignore anything interdisciplenary. I think the archeologists know more about the effects of nutrition on the human body today than anyone else.
High grain diets archaeologically are associated with increased tooth decay and tooth loss rates and lower life-expectancy than high-meat and high-dairy diets. Overly high dairy diets are associated with anemia (probably because cow milk decreases the ability of humans to absorb iron from foods). The Vikings were eating butter smeared on dried fish for breakfast and living significantly longer (and with very low rates of dental caries) than the grain-eating Continental Europeans of the same time. Indeed a Scandinavian living to 5 could expect to live to an older age than a Frenchman living to 20 despite the fact that life expectancy was so heavily slanted by childhood deaths in both cases.
Our conventional wisdom of nutrition is basically plausible hypothesis... if you ignore anything interdisciplenary. I think the archeologists know more about the effects of nutrition on the human body today than anyone else.