Phosphor wrote:
> >We've discussed on more than one occasion Jared Diamond's >description of
> living with hunter-gatherers in New
> >Guinea, and how the bulk of the food came from plant gathering.
> I'm glad you raised this. these are the same people who live on the edge of
> starvation due to lack of animal proteins? who forage for spiders in
> desparation? the same papuans with rust red hair from deficiencies?
I have to agree with Andrew here. Modern Papua is hardly an
ideal place to analyze ancient food gathering habits. Most
of the tribes there are firmly agricultural, so they have
way overpopulated from the point of view of hunting game.
Game, the big stuff that provides enough calories to support
the population, hardly exists any more in Papua, and hasn't
since the neolithic. Just like nearly everywhere else.