From: gts (gts_2000@yahoo.com)
Date: Sun Apr 13 2003 - 08:51:54 MDT
Barbara Lamar wrote:
> gts wrote:
>
>> You seem to be forgetting that North American people, including
>> Eskimos, are not truly Paleolithic.
>
> And you seem to be missing the point I was trying to make,
> which was that cultures in which people get a large % of
> their calories from meat are NOT Paleolithic cultures but rather
> modern HG cultures.
I agree with your point, but state further that hunter-gatherer cultures
(those very few that remain) are the best models we have of prehistoric
Paleolithic cultures. The problem I was pointing out is that many primitive
cultures studied by cultural anthropologists are not HG cultures, and that
is a mistake to assume those cultures are models of the Paleolithic
life-style, which was entirely HG.
> I don't know whether I failed abysmally at communicating or
> if you're deliberately misrepresenting what I wrote. Let's
> take a look at the evidence. I wrote: "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."
Right, and I presumed you were referring to hunting tools more sophisticated
than spears and arrows (and altatl's and boomerangs).
> Are you presuming that... there are only two
> levels of hunting technology -- spears and guns?
Very roughly speaking, yes. I'm also pointing out that wild game was more
plentiful in prehistoric times, which helped to offset the increased
difficulty of hunting with primitive weapons. As I mentioned, it is
theorized that prehistoric humans actually hunted many species into
extinction. This may have given impetus to the agricultural revolution.
Hungry people had to find a way to survive.
I'll find that Cordain article that you requested off-list, and post
excerpts here and send you the full text by email.
-gts
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