Palaeoecological data from wetland sites is generally under-utilised. However, it can be used in the heuristic reconstruction of past diets in what is termed, nutritional archaeology. Nutritional archaeology seeks to go beyond traditional energetic approaches to diet, and in doing so, also relates to wider aspects of the lived past. This approach is highly compatible with the application of niche construction theory especially for hunter-gatherers and early farmers.
This paper will illustrate these ideas using two examples, firstly the identification of a co-inhabited riverine niche in the Magdalenian of France and secondly Jomon archaeology from Japan. The Magdalenian riverine niche, which is recognised from a new interpretation of some classic mobiliary art and artefacts, has intriguing nutritional implications. The Jomon research has just begun, although the opportunity to undertake this research has arisen due to a large number of wetland archaeological excavations over the last 20 years around the coasts of Japan, which have recovered remarkably well preserved remains of fish, animals and plants. These remains can be used to create a nutritional landscape within which these peoples lived, and which produced the famous affluent hunter-gatherer (Jomon) society. The overall effect of this different dietary and cultural history is that Japanese society has traditionally had one of the globally highest life expectancies as well as a distinctive food-culture.