On Sat, 24 Feb 2007 20:34:54 -0500, Paleo Phil <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

.
>
> Actually, I think William was saying that Paleo people had biologically,
> rather than culturally, superior brainpower.

Um, yes, sort of, but I don't rule out cultural sophistication. We know  
nothing of what they could have done, and their technology (if any) would  
have been very different from ours.

I left school under the impression that pre-Roman conquest Europeans were  
all illiterate, then years later found that people were were writing using  
rune-staves about 200 BC. There have been very few such finds, and they  
tend to disappear from museums, leaving only photographs. The reason that  
there are so few apparently found is that they usually wrote on  
biodegradable twigs.
AFAIK most of the records from ancient times were commissioned by vermin  
such as megalomaniac pharaohs, kings etc., and are concerned with how  
thoroughly they could rob (tax) the peasantry.
Lacking vermin, (and therefore also lacking war), paleoman had no reason  
to leave such records.


>
> I'm guessing that other people who have adopted a Paleo diet have, like  
> me,
> noticed some improvement in mental clarity, memory, etc., upon doing so,  
> at
> least temporarily.

Yes, I have noticed that. Curiously, I have noticed an improvement in  
speed of processing such that I notice myself noticing things on occasion.

Brain size may have little to do with intelligence, as it is how much the  
outside layer of brain is folded that shows more or less intelligence. A  
neurologist remarked that his specialty had found no seat of consciousness  
in the brain, and speculated that it is outside the body. If true, the  
folds of brain might have the same effect as when this is done with a  
receiving antenna, it increases "gain", and makes possible reception of  
otherwise undetectable signals.

>> Furthermore, Native Americans at the time of the Founders were a
>> semi-sedentary people who had agriculture and other modern trappings.
>> They had these things before the arrival of Europeans.

Depends. Some lived north the areas where corn can be grown.

William