As a new member who has looked through much of the archive, and read
messages of the last week or so with much interest, a few questions have
arisen in my mind which as far as I can tell have not been
directly/explicitly addressed so far by the list. As someone who is not an
expert in dietary/nutritional studies I hope these questions are also not
ones which are felt to be too basic!

A few selections from posts which brought these questions to mind first:

Jennie Brand Miller <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>It seems that many of us believe that animals and human beigns have evolved on
>one sort of diet and it's best that we stick to the composition of that diet.

while Dean Esmay <[log in to unmask]> questions that this is necessarily so:
>After all,
>it's been some 10,000 years or more since the advent of agriculture, and
>some adaptation has probably occurred since then....It seems
>very clear to me that trying to find any one dietary method or protocol
>that universally applies to all humans is to search for the golden fleece.
>And yet it seems equally clear that much can be learned from the dietary
>habits of our ancestors.

While Ray Audette <[log in to unmask]> writes:
>To fully grasp what humans were designed to eat is easy.  Simply limit your
>technology to that
>which comes naturally without any technology(naked with a sharp stick or rock)
>and eat
>accordingly
[continuing to suggest that certain adaptations make meat (the?) preferred food]
>This method is more reliable than fosil evidence.  Get it wrong and you don't
>feel well! This
>method does not depend on what your culture taught you or where on earth you
>find yourself.
>Hunter-gather cultures lived closer to this ideal than any modern people.


My first question has already been brought up by Mavis Wood
<[log in to unmask]> asking WHICH Palaeolithic peoples are being
referred to by list members, but did not apparently receive much response.
My reading of messages suggest most people are referring to early
hominids/the Lower Palaeolithic, for which the direct archaeological
evidence relating to diet (especially any role for plant foods) is
necessarily very sparse. There seems to be an implicit assumption by some
members that this is the diet that 'we' evolved to eat. But to what extent
has evolution of the species since the Lower Palaeolithic included changes
in dietary 'adaptations' which are in (large?) part related to such
'cultural' aspects as developments in technology, including use of cooking
and other processing technologies - in other words, has the species'
evolution been influenced by these? Presumably adaptations to environments
other than savannah, with different kinds of available foods, might also be
involved. What kind of evidence is there for the speed at which genetic
changes related to the way the gut behaves (for instance) can occur - I
think I'm right in thinking that evidence from such things as
lactose/glucose in/tolerance suggest that there can be quite rapid changes.
So what basis is there for believing that our guts are really the same as
those of Lower Palaeolithic hominids ?

In view of the paucity of evidence for the real nature of Palaeolithic
diets (of whatever type) should we be making such definitive claims as
those of Ray Audette? Several posts make it clear that the verdict on the
likely nature of early hominid diet is still very much out.
Ethnographically-recorded hunter-gatherer diets are remarkably varied,
especially in relation to the proportions of plant vs. animal foods,
suggesting that there may be great variability in human adaptations - and
to what extent can any of these be regarded as analogous with the diet of a
Lower Palaeolithic hominid?

And a furher (partly related) question: in many discussions, particularly
relating to toxicity of plant foods, there has been much use of the word
'staple' - what evidence is there that our Palaeolithic ancestors (of
whichever type) subsisted on diets in which there necessarily was A staple?
(however that is defined - IS there a broadly-acepted definition?). In a
broad-spectrum / omnivorous diet, which presumably is one possibility, is
it necessary to have a staple, and can problems of toxicity be overcome by
eating small amounts of many different foodstuffs, so that toxic foods are
not eaten in suficient quantities to cause problems?

regards,

Sarah Mason
Human Environment Section              email: [log in to unmask]
Institute of Archaeology, UCL            Tel: +44 (0)171 387 7050 x 4757
31-34 Gordon Square                      Fax: +44 (0)171 383 2572
London, WC1H 0PY, UK