Ron Hoggan:
> Sent: Saturday, February 24, 2007 10:57 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Intelligence of Stone Age People, was Molecular Mimicry
> 
> Hi Phil,
> You asked:
> > But did all that size reduction occur after the development
> > of agriculture, or did the shrinkage begin before then?
> 
> According to Wolfgang Lutz: "It is of great interst that early farmers
> in
> Greece and Turkey were five inches shorter than their atheltic
> paleolithic
> ancestors."(1)
> 
> The source he cites for this claim is Angel (2)
> 
> I haven't been able to acquire a copy of Lutz's source. However, there
> is
> congruency with the data from excavations at Abu Hureyra (3). In a
> report by
> Roger Lewin,  Theya Molleson of the British Museum "identifies
> deformation
> os in the legs, feet, and vetebra that indicate the carrying of heavy
> loads
> and the reletless hand-milling of grain." This of course overlooks the
> possibility that grain consumption could cause the same injuries to
> these
> bones.

Those are interesting reports, Ron, but they don't appear to address changes
in relative brain size. Shorter stature would result in smaller brains, but
not necessarily smaller relative to body size. Relative size would seem to
be more important than discrete brain size when it comes to intelligence.