> > Hey, why should we imagine paleo people were never fat? > > Don't forget the venus figures.... >If I remember correctly, these figures were AFTER farming, >therefore not paleo. Most of what I have read about these >representations says they were fertility associated: a >woman must have a certain body status to ovulate and the >very thin such as marathoners do not (or so it is >reported). Therefore, wouldn't the makers of the figurines >want fat females for their representations? One of the major changes in human society after the Agricultural Revolution was a baby boom of all but cosmic proportion. Why? I'm using ballpark figures (as I've once again loaned out a book with this information), but here's an interesting tidbit taken from research on current hunter-gatherer tribes: Average age of menses (first menstrual cycle) - mid to late teens Average age of first childbirth - 18 or thereabouts Average time between births - 3 to 4 years All with no birth control, by the way. Of course, as any statistician will tell you, girls today are starting their cycles as young as 10 (bummer!) and we've all heard of girls as young as 13 or even 12 having a baby, a child having a child. We'll probably never know ALL the reasons why but dietary changes are no doubt in the picture. One thing that absolutely fascinated me was something seen among tribal teens. Just like teens today, they were having some serious fun behind the bushes, including The Act. The main difference? No out-of-wedlock births. HA! I LLLLOVE it! This puts to bed (as it were) the sentiment that s-e-x before marriage is due to the influence of Hollywood, rock-and-roll or the general moral decline of the human beast in today's eee-vee-il, horrible world. True, tribal females get married almost immediately after menses and, thus, no "illegitimate" births but they, and their male counterparts, were still fooling around before the 'M' word. The act of love is as old as mankind and nothing to be ashamed of. Imagine me telling my mom or my conservative Mennonite aunties THAT one! (Don't worry, I won't.) Seriously, seeing this documented really helped me see the Bigger Picture. Know what I mean? Dori Zook Denver, CO _________________________________________________________________ Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: http://messenger.msn.com