Were the ancient Egyptians 'vegetarians'?

Were the ancient Egyptians 'vegetarians'?

Were the ancient Egyptians vegetarians? A study tried to answer that question by examining carbon levels inside ancient Egyptian mummies, to find that the food of the pharaohs was mainly barley and wheat, not meat or fish.

Life in ancient Egypt was very different from life today. The report published in “Science” magazine lists the nature of the discovery made by a group of researchers from the University of Lyon.. The report indicates that the diet of the ancient Egyptians was adopted Mainly on fruits and vegetables in addition to barley and wheat; This is consistent with today's vegetarian diets.

 The research team had studied a group of mummies of people who lived in Egypt in the period between 3500 BC to 600 BC, and the scientists found that the cells of the mummies confirm that the ancient Egyptians adapted very well to the nature surrounding them; Which was profusely producing wheat and barley, which prompted them to follow that pattern of food, and the researchers confirmed the result by studying the carbon atoms inside the cells, which reveal how much a person ate from plants, those atoms were formed by photosynthesis processes in the plant, and it is impossible to be Formed by normal cellular chemical reactions.

 Echoes of this discovery appear on ancient Egyptian paintings and murals, which show large groups of people working the lands to harvest wheat and make loaves of bread.