Dianne:

Finally read your post on paleolithic. You are absolutely right -- correct
terminology is important. I guess my point is that personally I am most
concerned about my own health. The way I see it is that I, as a whitey, am
genetically identical to the local amerindians, since we are both "modern."

And, since we both share the same genes, and since these genes are
"paleolithic," then if they were able to evolve a lifestyle which put them in
harmony with their genes, then we should be interested in this. It must
surely be the same, in effect, as the Lower Paleolithic, must it not, or they
would not have survived. And you are right - this does not tell us what
paleolithic people actually ate, but we can never know that, can we? And even
if we did, we couldn't do it, because the plants and animals don't exist.
(the pleistocene megafauna, eg)

We are clearly not in harmony with our genes, since we have exponential rates
of diabetes, for example. At this rate we will exterminate ourselves, which
for the planet might not be a bad thing!

I think Ray took things too simplistically -- the naked in the savannah with
a sharp stick bit. Humans have always been very ingenious, and I am quite
confident that our paleolithic predecessors would have exploited every niche
in their environment. Anything that walked, crawled, flew or grew out of the
ground would have been a potential food source, and this would vary with the
prevailing environment.

What is particularly interesting about the local amerindians here is that
most of their food stuffs still exist. I am planning to start gathering these
wild foods, and to work with some of the natives that still exist across the
border in Mexico, to see if we can prepare the food in the old ways. Welcome
to the paleolithic cafe!

Charles