On Tue, 14 Feb 2006 16:08:38 -0700, Wally Day <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>> It doesn't take any technology at all to
>> gather a pile of nuts when they fall off the tree, and munch on them all
>
>> winter long.
>
>The same is true of dried fruits and veggies.
>
>I've long had a difficulty resolving the Paleo principle of seasonality
>with the idea that behaviorally modern humans have been around for about
>50,000 years (give or take).

The more I read about anthropological investigations, the more I find that the
behaviors that we consider "human" or even "modern human" have actually been
present in many different primate species for millions of years.

I just posted the discovery of chimpanzees of the past using tools to open nuts.

One can also read about the chimpanzee war that occurred in 1974 that was
observed by Jane Goodall (note that her bias was just the opposite - the usual
"humans are the nastiest" myth).

Another interesting one is chimpanzee politics - chimps that are campaigning to
be elected to be leader, actually kiss babies in order to try to win the votes
of females (women's suffrage clearly existed long before the 20th Century).

There is also the discovery that chimps have different words for foods - chimps'
vocalizations were recorded while being given certain foods.    When those
recordings were played back for other chimps, they would point to pictures of
that particular food.

Most of the differences between modern humans and other primates seem largely to
be quantitative.

However, all creatures having an individual viewpoint, thereby have ego, and
thus tend to view themselves as being superior.   Anyone who has a cat can
verify that...

--
Cheers,

Ken