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People these days are swapping wheat with a more nutritious grain - millet. But this isn’t just another modern health trend. Millets have been a staple in the diet for centuries. A recent study has found that millet was already revolutionizing diets as far as the Bronze Age.

People from the Tumulus culture, the ones who lived in Central Europe during the Middle Bronze Age, were believed to be mostly pastoralists. However, a recent study has challenged this long-held belief and given insight into the shifts seen around 1500 BC, including lifestyle changes in Central European history. The findings of the bioarchaeological investigation of the Bronze Age cemetery of Tiszafüred-Majoroshalom, led by an international research team, are published in the journal  .

Around 1500 BC, there were radical changes in people’s lives: they ate and lived differently, and the social system was also reorganized.

How diet changed

Nitrogen isotope studies show that during the Middle Bronze Age, people had a more diverse diet, and social differences were clear, especially in who had access to animal protein. By the Late Bronze Age, these differences faded, and diets became more uniform but less nutritious.

Broomcorn millet was introduced

The carbon isotope analyses found that people consumed millet. As the plant can be grown quickly and has a high energy content, it became quite a popular option towards the beginning of the Late Bronze Age. Yes, that’s right. Millets are no modern trend; they have been part of our diets for centuries. The data from the Tiszafüred Bronze Age cemetery indicate the earliest known consumption of millet in Europe.