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The “caveman”?diet-aka paleo-has been a mainstay from the time celebs and CrossFitters alike began singing its praises in 2008. The sustainability-minded program says no-no to ingredients like grain, dairy, legumes, refined sugar, and alcohol, which is all about eating the important, living foods that the ancestors ate. And can turn out that for your caveman ancestors, that entailed real, living humans.

Yep, the very first caveman diet included cannibalism, according to new research published in Scientific Reports. The “unambiguous evidence”?emanates from the “third cave” at?Goyet in Belgium, where researchers found remains dating as far back as 45,500 years ago.

After identifying 283 human remains, including 96 bone specimens, the researchers reported that Neanderthal bones exhibited evidence of “skinning, filleting, disarticulation, and marrow extraction.”?Yikes. Much like the horse and reindeer bones, it appears to be the femurs and tibias were typically the most popular, due to their advanced level of nutritional content in the meat and marrow.

Research has unveiled that the modern-day “caveman diet”?might not sometimes be all of that closely tied to what our hunter-gatherer ancestors ate 1000’s of years ago anyway. So?discussing too concerned concerning this “original paleo diet”?finding having any real consequences. It’s certainly an intriguing (albeit mortifying) new component of research, though.

Want to get the current paleo diet a whirl? Try these delicious (non-human) paleo breakfast, dinner, and dessert recipes.