Today, it’s rare for reptiles to serve as a food source. Aside from certain Southeast Asian cultures that favor snake meat, and lizard meat featuring in some African cuisines, they aren’t much on the menu. But a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, led by archaeologists from the University of Haifa in Israel, showed that lizards and snakes were a mainstay in the diets of our human ancestors in the Middle East.

The Natufian site of el-Wad Terrace in Israel was inhabited from about 15,000 to 11,700 years ago, during a time when people were starting to live more stationary lives. Although agriculture hadn’t yet emerged, Natufians settled seasonally in structures such as the Nahal Me‛arot cave complex, of which el-Wad Terrace is a part, from where they could hunt and gather locally.

In excavating layers of sediments representing several thousand years of Natufian life, the archaeologists found many different animal bones with cut marks, indicating their culinary use—and a clear taste for reptiles. More than a third of the food pile bones were from lizards and snakes, mostly from larger-bodied species that would have been easier to catch.

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For instance, about 1,000 remains of European glass lizards (Pseudopus apodus), chunky, legless lizards that grow about 4 feet long, lack venom, and are active during the daytime, were discovered. Around 900 remains of whip snakes (Dolichophis jugularis), also hefty and non-venomous, were uncovered, too. The third most common reptile dish was the Eastern Montpellier snake (Malpolon insignitus), which is mildly venomous and aggressive, perhaps explaining why fewer (roughly 650) occurred in the food piles.

The array of other reptile species consumed in smaller quantities included toads, frogs, chameleons, skinks, boas, sand racers, and even a few venomous vipers. The rest of the Natufian diet consisted of mountain gazelles, along with small mammals such as mole-rats and hares, plus the occasional aquatic bird or tortoise.

It was an eat-what-you-can-catch approach that filled human stomachs until the dawn of cultivation put some greens and, eventually, ranched meat on their plates.

Lead image: Andrey / Adobe Stock