On Mon, 18 Nov 2002 16:04:18 -0600, Francesca Cerrato
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>This is total speculation but I recall that in many of the old stories
>and fabels there is a large container of stew or soup simmering away -
>the water heated over fire with vegetables, herbs and pieces of meat
>added to it. It warms you up when you're cold, the meat is loosened from
>the bones and comes off easily, the nutrients, especially in the bone
>marrow, are released and become part of the broth. Finally, it's a way
>of incorporating much of what has been gathered and hunted into one big
>pot that everyone can share ("scoop" from).
>
>If you have a fire that you tend and keep going 24/7, it seems only
>natural that out of curiousity you would experiment with heating up food
>(and water), grinding up stuff with mortar and pestal, mixing different
>things together...
>
>Would this have been possible before there were clay pots? Would an
>animal skin work?
>
>- Francesca

In a recent article I posted, one paleo group used large turtle shells
as "pots":

     http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe
     ?A2=ind0210&L=paleofood&P=R13140&D=0&O=D

so they were quite improvising. I think stone pit cooking was done
in animal skins.


Philip Thrift
http://geocities.com/paleofitness