The team had examined 14 coprolites, as fossil faeces are termed by polite scientists.

ECONOMIST: The first Americans

The team also recovered 62 coprolites (fossilised faeces), of which 34 were human specimens.

BBC: Maize was key in early Andean civilisation, study shows

But in each one of those coprolites, there was, on average, half an anchovy - that is not your diet, that is a condiment.

BBC: Maize was key in early Andean civilisation, study shows

DNA-based test to complement their myoglobin work, following the success of other groups in using gene fragments in coprolites as windows into ancient diets.

ECONOMIST: Anthropophagy

These coprolites came from a complex of caves in Oregon.

ECONOMIST: The first Americans

How unusual Dr Marlar discovered when he applied his biochemical assay to the coprolite and found traces of human myoglobin, which were not detected in prehistoric coprolites from other sites or in modern faecal samples.

ECONOMIST: Anthropophagy