At Paisley Caves in North America, tiny insect remains preserved in ancient human waste are helping tell a much larger story: people have been eating insects for thousands of years.
A study from Durham University argues that this long history matters as communities look for ways to produce food with less environmental strain. Published in the journal World Archaeology, the research by Professor Lisa-Marie Shillito examines how archaeological evidence can broaden ideas about what counts as food—and what might belong on future menus.
Traces of insect eating appear in several kinds of finds, including ancient human waste, tools and cooking equipment. Archaeologists have also found signs that people harvested and stored insects. Across North America, evidence points to past meals of grasshoppers, beetles and other insects. In Australia, researchers have found evidence that moths were cooked and ground into food around 2,000 years ago.
Insects are not merely a food of the past. Grasshoppers, for instance, are eaten today in countries including Uganda and Mexico, and insects remain part of traditional diets in many parts of Africa, Asia and Latin America. Yet in many Western societies they are often met with disgust. Shillito says that reaction can shape what researchers notice, too: if people do not think of insects as food, they may overlook clues that earlier communities ate them.
“We often hear about edible insects as a food of the future, but for many people they are already part of a long culinary heritage,” Shillito said. Recognizing that heritage, she argues, can help people question assumptions about unfamiliar foods and consider a wider range of protein sources.
There is also a practical reason to take the question seriously. Depending on the insect species and the way it is raised, insect farming can use less land and produce lower greenhouse gas emissions per unit of edible protein than many conventional livestock systems. The study does not suggest that insects are a single answer to the challenges of food production. Instead, it presents them as one possible part of more varied and resilient food systems.
That shift in perspective starts with looking carefully at the past. Archaeological evidence shows that human diets have never been fixed, and that foods seen as unusual in one place may be familiar in another. By treating insects as part of humanity’s food heritage rather than only as a novelty, Shillito hopes to encourage a broader discussion of alternative proteins and sustainable diets. The ancient traces—from cave remains to signs of cooking—offer a reminder that future food choices can draw on a very long human story.