From: Barbara Lamar (blamar@satx.rr.com)
Date: Sat Apr 12 2003 - 22:12:13 MDT
gts wrote:
> Then you haven't seen the evidence.
>
> There is evidence that hominids were eating large game meat as far back as
> *2 million* years ago, though at the time we were scavengers rather than
> hunters.
I didn't say that the evidence indicates that early humans and pre-humans
didn't eat any meat at all. I said the evidence indicates that they didn't
get a large % of their calories from meat. If you would be willing to cite
research that shows otherwise, I'd be very interested to see it.
> If you'll forgive me for saying so, your argument that Paleolithic diets
> were not largely animal-based (which I define as 30% to 50% of
> calories) is
> outdated. It's the last bastion of vegetarians and their kin who
> still cling
> to the old argument that we were living in trees and eating oranges and
> bananas until about 50,000 years ago.
There's no need to beg forgiveness. I'm not emotionally attached to either
view. But I do find it difficult to believe that early humans with no
hunting gear more sophisticated than the spear could have gotten a large %
of calories from meat. I base this in part on first-hand experience hunting
and on written accounts of hunting in North America in the 1800's when game
was more plentiful than it is now and when people had guns. Even then, there
apparently were plenty of days when people went out to hunt and came home
with no meat.
Barbara
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