Recent research may change how we think about Neanderthal diets. Neanderthals were thought to eat mostly meat, like lions and wolves. Scientists used nitrogen isotope analysis to study ancient diets and they found these:

(1) The new findings suggest they may have regularly eaten rotting meat with maggots!

(2) Indigenous records show people in the past often consumed fermented, maggot-filled meat.

(3) Fly larvae (maggots) from decaying animals have very high nitrogen levels.

(4) Eating these could explain the high nitrogen signals found in Neanderthal bones.

Takeaway: Maggots might have been a normal and even valuable food source for survival during the Ice Age!

Source: Jenna Ahart, Mystery food in Neanderthal diet might be maggots, Nature, (2025).