On Thu, 12 Oct 2000 09:46:13 -0400, Todd Moody
<[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

>On Thu, 12 Oct 2000, Philip Thrift wrote:
>
>> It seems reasonable to me that for paleo man (Neanderthal or not) that
>> their *primary motivation* was to seek out *meat* for food, and when
>> hunting provided this opportunity, it was exploited --
>> after all, they didn't have a bunch of nutrition "studies" telling them
>> to eat a "balanced diet" :-).
>
>That's certainly true, but studies of contemporary HGs suggest
>that dependence of meat is inversely proportional to availability
>of non-meat foods.  That is, the more plant foods are available,
>the less meat is eaten.  See
>http://biology.uindy.edu/Biol345/LECTURE24/lecture24.htm, for
>example.  This suggests that when HGs have a choice, they gather
>more than they hunt.

When I read this, it just seems say that plant eating increases
when animal sources are more difficult to get. It still leaves the
impression with me that if there were abundant hunting opportunity, or
even if meat vs. plants were handed to them "on a plate",
they would eat the meat first.

Philip Thrift
"Paleofitness"
http://www.paleofitness.com