Prehistoric diet and nutrition: Some food for thought

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Abstract
The paper reviews some of the main problems in studying the diet and nutrition of contemporary individuals and communities. The potential value of prehistoric food residues and skeletal data to studies of ancient dietary and nutritional levels is then discussed, and it is suggested that these topics lie outside the range of archaeological data. Instead, prehistorians are advised to use archaeo‐dietary evidence to investigate prehistoric food production, and skeletal information as a guide to prevailing levels of environmental health. Archaeologists should be cautious when applying dietary and nutritional data to prehistoric studies, and of drawing conclusions on these topics from archaeological evidence.