Researchers want to know what the gut microbiomes were like in humans prior to industrialization. They examined ancient DNA from ancient dried feces found at a paleontology site. The gut microbiome is an essential part of the human body’s digestive and immune systems. With modern diets, the species makeup and diversity of the gut microbiome has changed and adapted. Researchers who are hoping to understand what the gut microbiome was like prior to industrialization don’t have many existing populations to study that would be reliably similar. So one group of researchers turned to ancient ruins to find their answers.