Certainly prior to farming (and humans existed for millennia before agriculture), the nutritional pyramid would have looked very different with no cereals and a far greater reliance on animal protein – in particular fish and meat.

The reliance of Mesolithic hunter-gathers on marine protein  has been proven repeatedly by archaeological studies of human remains, which preserve signature of diet in the chemistry of the bone. These studies have shown overwhelmingly that Mesolithic people ate a lot of marine fish and shellfish.

Of course, we cannot simply return to a Mesolithic lifestyle – the world’s oceans would not support even greater exploitation of marine resources, especially since many are already under threat.

Above image developed at the University Of Nottingham