On Tue, 10 Jul 2001 08:51:23 -0400 Richard Geller <[log in to unmask]>
writes:
> Look, there is no getting around it: Dairy is largely a neolithic
> food.

I tend to ramble on.....so you're "Delete" buttons are
right there........

Ardeith writes:
Do we really know when people began herding sheep,
goats, and cows?   What would be preserved in the
archaeological record to indicate "herding?"   "Herding"
did not suddenly appear in the neolithic.  It was
developed over time.....and probably began in the
paleolithic or mesolithic somewhere in the world.
This does not mean that all people everywhere
made a practice of keeping lactating animals . . .
Some Oriental populations lost the enzyme needed
to digest dairy long years back............

My dictionary says......Paleolithic - 750,000 years
ago to about 15,000 years ago.....beginning with
the earliest chipped stone tools........
Mesolithic - about 15,000 years ago to about
10,000 years ago - distinguished by the use of
the bow and cutting tools.......
Neolithic - about 10,000 years ago - distinguished
by the development of agriculture and the use of
polished stone tools.............

We have to remember that the Neanderthals
weren't the only people around in the world
40K years ago.......the last thing I read about
them says they are not in our ancestry....they
were killed off or driven to extinction by our
form of humanity.......and we don't really know
when our European ancestors began to herd
cows, sheep, and goats.....apologies to folks
of non-European ancestry.....I haven't spent
as much time reading the research about other
parts of the world..........................

My ancestors lived in England, Ireland
and Northern France for all of their history
that I've been able to trace.......
I'd be interested in knowing how far back
herding can be traced in those cultures.....
as it did not just "suddenly" appear in the
Neolithic..........it has a history somewhere.

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Walk The Path With Practical Feet!

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