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Journals / Kastamonu Üniversitesi Sağlık Bilimleri Fakültesi Dergisi / 2026 / Cilt: 5 Sayı: 2

What Can Nutritional Archaeology Tell Us About Contemporary Nutritional Problems and Chronic Diseases?

Beslenme Arkeolojisi Günümüz Beslenme Sorunları ve Kronik Hastalıklar Hakkında Bize Ne Söyleyebilir?

Mücahit Muslu(KASTAMONU ÜNİVERSİTESİ)0000-0002-8761-5061
Pages
91–114
Publication Date
2026-08-31
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AI Summary & Key Takeaways

AI Insight
⚡ TL;DR(Too Long; Didn't Read)

Nutritional archaeology therefore provides no direct clinical recommendations but offers a complementary perspective that places modern diets within their historical context.

📌 3 Key Takeaways

🎯
Objective & Hypothesis:Human diets have transformed throughout history in response to environmental, biological, cultural, and technological changes.
📊
Key Findings & Data:This review describes the principal archaeological and biomolecular methods used to reconstruct past diets, examines dietary transformations from hunter-gatherer societies to modern food systems, and discusses their implications for contemporary nutrition.
💡
Conclusion & Impact:Nutritional archaeology therefore provides no direct clinical recommendations but offers a complementary perspective that places modern diets within their historical context.
🔬Design:Review & Systematic Survey
📍Scope:Comprehensive Sample
⚙️Variables:Beslenme arkeolojisi · paleodiyet · beslenme örüntüleri

Abstract

Human diets have transformed throughout history in response to environmental, biological, cultural, and technological changes. This review describes the principal archaeological and biomolecular methods used to reconstruct past diets, examines dietary transformations from hunter-gatherer societies to modern food systems, and discusses their implications for contemporary nutrition. Human skeletal and dental remains, stable isotopes, dental calculus, archaeobotanical and zooarchaeological remains, organic residues in pottery, and coprolites provide complementary evidence. These sources indicate that hunter-gatherer diets were heterogeneous, the health effects of the transition to agriculture varied across populations, and food processing has been practiced since ancient times. Modern nutritional evidence supports consuming diverse nutrient-dense foods and fiber-rich plant foods while reducing reliance on ultra-processed products. However, clinical evidence remains insufficient to conclude that a specific ancestral diet, seasonal eating pattern, or predefined threshold of plant diversity prevents chronic diseases. Nutritional archaeology therefore provides no direct clinical recommendations but offers a complementary perspective that places modern diets within their historical context.

Özet

İnsan beslenmesi çevresel, biyolojik, kültürel ve teknolojik değişimlerle tarih boyunca dönüşmüştür. Bu derleme, geçmiş beslenmenin belirlenmesinde kullanılan başlıca arkeolojik ve biyomoleküler yöntemleri açıklamayı, avcı-toplayıcılıktan modern gıda sistemlerine uzanan beslenme dönüşümünü incelemeyi ve tarihsel kanıtların günümüz beslenme sorunları açısından sağlayabileceği çıkarımları tartışmayı amaçlamaktadır. İnsan iskeletleri ve dişleri, stabil izotoplar, dental kalkülüs, arkeobotanik ve zooarkeolojik kalıntılar, seramiklerdeki organik kalıntılar ve koprolitler geçmiş beslenmenin farklı boyutlarına ilişkin tamamlayıcı bilgiler sunmaktadır. Bu kanıtlar, avcı-toplayıcı beslenmesinin heterojen olduğunu, tarıma geçişin sağlık üzerindeki etkilerinin toplumlara göre değiştiğini ve gıda işlemenin eski dönemlerden beri uygulandığını göstermektedir. Modern beslenme kanıtları; besin değeri yüksek çeşitli kaynakların ve liften zengin bitkisel besinlerin tüketilmesini, ultra-işlenmiş ürünlere bağımlılığın ise azaltılmasını desteklemektedir. Buna karşılık belirli bir atalara özgü diyetin, mevsimsel beslenmenin veya belirli bir bitkisel çeşitlilik eşiğinin kronik hastalıkları önlediğine ilişkin yeterli klinik kanıt bulunmamaktadır. Beslenme arkeolojisi, doğrudan klinik öneri üretmeyen ancak modern beslenmeyi tarihsel bağlama yerleştiren tamamlayıcı bir kanıt alanıdır.

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Cite This Article

Muslu, M. (2026). What Can Nutritional Archaeology Tell Us About Contemporary Nutritional Problems and Chronic Diseases?. Kastamonu Üniversitesi Sağlık Bilimleri Fakültesi Dergisi, Cilt: 5 Sayı: 2, 91–114. https://doi.org/10.59778/sbfdergisi.2017412

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