Seaweed was common food in Europe for thousands of years, researchers find

Seaweed such as dulse, Palmaria palmata, was foraged widely in the neolithic era. Photograph: Tim Gainey/Alamy

It may be considered an unusual ingredient in western cuisine, cropping up in a fancy cookbook or local delicacy. But it turns out that seaweed was a common foodstuff among people in Europe for thousands of years.

Researchers have found telltale signs of consumption on human teeth at sites from Spain to Lithuania, spanning a period from around 6400BC to the early middle ages.