On Thu, 15 Apr 1999, Hans Kylberg wrote:

> At 12:45 1999-04-13 EDT, Anna wrote:
> >And that since it's common for hunters to consume the stomach contents
> >of their kill first, the likelihood of fermented milk being consumed was
> >probably very high.  I don't recall any responses to his post even though
> >what he was saying was very significant.
> >Anyone want to comment on this??
>
> In the same way it is possible to eat partly digested grass (leaves)
> from small guts of ruminants, wich is probably much more available
> than the "cheese" Todd spoke of.

That's a good point, although availability would depend upon the
likelihood of killing a suckling calf.  I'm not an expert on
hunting but I have the idea that this would not be unusual, since
the calves would tend to be slower and smaller and therefore more
vulnerable.

The main point, however, is that cheese was *discovered*, not
invented.  If ruminants were a common prey of prehistoric hunters
then I see no reason to doubt that "stomach cheese" was a common
dietary item.  Aged cheese is something else again.

Todd Moody
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