At 01:06 PM 5/19/97 -0500, you wrote:
>>One problem. Macadamia nuts can't be cracked by humans. It takes a vice,
>>and that's technology.
>>
>>Sorry,
>>John Pavao
>
>Maybe I am being too dour and missing some humor in the above post (I hope
>so!); however, I believe it is fairly well-known that even chimps have been
>known to crack nuts with rocks. Surely humans are just as resourceful with
>their considerably more sophisticated technology using stones, bones, etc.,
>even 40,000 years ago and before, even if one wants to discount modern
>technology "vices" (in both senses of the word!). :-) Would macadmia nuts
>truly be resistant to persistent or clever use of stone tools? Technology
>(tool use), up to a certain rudimentary level of sophistication at least,
>is part of the working definition that evolutionary biologists use (along
>with bipedalism, large brain, language, etc.) to define the human
>evolutionary adaptation that has contributed to our survival as a species.
>
>--Ward Nicholson <[log in to unmask]>
Ward,
There was recently some discussion of this on the Lowcarb list, and I
believe the person who had the macadamias with shells still on said that
the nuts resisted ALL efforts with hammers, nutcrackers, his/her car (tried
running over the bag); the only thing that worked was a vice and a lot of
pressure. Sounds like no chimp would have been able to crack one.
I believe that macadamias have been domesticated only since Europeans got
to Australia. Can anyone back me up on this? I read it in a book called
'Guns, Germs and Steel,' about why Europe developed technology and started
colonizing the rest of the world before other civilizations had a chance
to. Interesting read.
Mara
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