On Mon, 7 Feb 2000, Raymond, Charles E. x1280 wrote:

> Who really cares if Grog on the Savannah killed a cow or goat and
> ate the milk it may or may not have had in it? All you can do is speculate
> whether or not ancient peoples did or didn't.

This is generally true when it comes to reconstructing paleo diet
thousands of years later.  We have to speculate, based on what
we think they could and could not have done.

> It was my intent to point out that
> the Milk in the grocery store is not fit for human consumption due to the
> current processes used to treat the cows, etc.

I don't think anyone has disagree with that here yet.

> You can speculate and debate the issue
> all night long, the simple FACT remains that a cow's milk is intended to be
> consumed by BABY COWS.

Intended by whom?  The same person who intended that a cow's rump
is intended to be eaten by humans?

> Now, why is it absurd that a H/G would say that cow's milk is not intended
> to be consumed by anything other than a cow?

Do you think paleolithic HG's actually worried about who the
"intended" consumer of something was?  As Ken pointed out, egg
yolk is "intended" for baby chicks.  Do you think HGs avoided
eggs for that reason?

> The H/G would have had to kill a nursing mother animal in order to
> get its milk, in nature most nursing animals make an effort to hide
> themselves and their young from predators. Not that I've seen a cow dig a
> den or anything, but how likely was it that Grog happened upon a nursing
> animal in which to get the tiny amount of milk from? You don't know, you can
> guess, but you don't know.

In nature, most animals, nursing or not, make an effort to hide
themselves from predators.  But you know what?  The predators get
them anyway.  How tiny is the amount of milk in a calf's stomach?
Consider the size of a cow's udder, and the fact that cow's have
calves one at a time, not litters.  Even allowing for the
selective breeding of cows with oversized udders, it doesn't make
much sense for a cow to produce such quantities of milk for a
single calf to consume in "tiny amounts."

Notice how you describe Grog as having to "happen upon" a nursing
animal, ignoring the fact that Grog was a *hunter*.  If your
argument reduces to just "you don't know" then that same argument
applies to most everything else that we take to be "paleo" around
here.  Did paleolithic HGs eat strawberries?  They could have,
but we don't know.  Did they eat rhubarb?  Maybe, but we don't
know.

> You don't honestly believe he sliced open the
> sack of every single kill and a gallon of Superbrand, Grade A homogenized
> plopped out do you?

No, but who said anything like that?  Do you get a kick out of
refuting claims that no one has made?

> Perhaps Grog pulled out his Oreos and dunked them in the
> tiny amount that was available, perhaps he used his blender to whip up a
> frothy milk and blood protein shake?

Having a good time, are you?

> And, if you believe Grog just lazily
> sauntered over to the nearest nursing animal and squeezed out a few mouth
> fulls of milk, you obviously haven't tried to milk a wild animal before.

Who said anything about milking wild animals?  Never mind, you're
on a roll.

> Sometimes I think you folks who like to put
> every little comment under a microscope, need to get out and enjoy life once
> in awhile.

Thanks for the advice.

Todd Moody