On Wed, 7 Feb 2001, Philip Thrift wrote:

> Like I've said, I think of our species as hunter/cookers :-).

I agree with that, but in addition I suspect that plant foods
were cooked for a long time as well.  As Wrangham and others have
argued, cooked plant foods leave fewer durable traces, so the
archeological record has a "bias" toward signs of cooked meat --
charred bones, for example.  Parched grains wouldn't last long,
and neither would stone-baked tubers.  And of course soaking is
even simpler than cooking.  All that is needed is a vessel, such
as an animal stomach or bladder, and some water.  I don't argue
that this justifies a bean-and-grain based diet, but I do believe
that these goods were part of the paleo diet, even if not a
dominant part.  It's not all or nothing.

Todd Moody
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