Snakes on a plate: Reptiles eaten by foragers in the Levant for 3,000 years

Lizards and snakes were a regular part of the Natufian people's diet in the Levant for over 3,000 years, according to a study of fossils found at El Wad Terrace in present-day Israel. Researchers from the University of Haifa discovered that squamate reptiles, including lizards and snakes, made up more than a third of the animal remains at the site, with 82 snake vertebrae showing cut marks consistent with butchering.

The more time the foragers spent in one place, the larger the proportion of their diet consisted of squamates. Common species included European glass lizards, large whip snakes, and eastern Montpellier snakes. While snakes were not the primary food source, they served as a consistent and dependable supplement to the Natufian people's subsistence economy, which primarily relied on hunting and gathering a wide range of resources.

The repetitive cut marks on the snake vertebrae suggest that people followed a generation-spanning tradition of catching and preparing these reptiles, likely through methods such as hand-catching, netting, or using sharpened sticks, small bows, arrows, or spears. The increasing reliance on snakes and lizards as a food source coincided with growing population density at the site, as fewer inhabitants meant less pressure on food resources and more motivation to hunt the reptiles.