rick strong wrote:
>I do not know but recall many references to relatively low average
>life span assumptions due to high mortality for infectious disease and
>injury.

I suppose I have a different perspective from a lot of people on this list
as I was not drawn to Paleo for any health or weight related issues. It was
the primitivist critique of civilization that resulted in my exploration of
primitive lifeways and therefore the primitive diet. I just want to point
out that, for those interested, there is more that can be questioned about
the way we live than diet. I do appreciate that it is off topic so I won't
say any more other than to highly recommend a novel by Daniel Quinn called
"Ishmael" as a brilliant introduction to questioning more than just the
civilized diet.

Anyway, to the question at hand.... Disease as we know it is really a
product of civilization. It requires large populations. It wouldn't be a
long lived disease if it only hand a band of 20 or 30 individuals to infect.
"Guns, Germs and Steel" by Jarred Diamond is a very good book to get an
appreciation of the huge role that disease played in decimating native
peoples when they came in contact with civilized invaders.

William Buckley was an English convict that escaped from what became an
abandoned settlement in south eastern Victoria at the start of the 1800s. He
roamed Victoria with his adopted tribe with no contact with civilization
until what became Melbourne was settled some 32 years later. He reported
that he was never ill during his time with the aborigines, nor did sickness
play any significant role in tribal life. This was contrasted by the
sickness he experienced when reintegrated into civilized life. He also
reported that the aborigines lived lives just as long as civilized peoples.
If you can find his book, "The Life and Adventures of William Buckley" by
John Morgan published in 1852 it is a fascinating read.

Obviously primitive people had the dangers of the wild to deal with while we
have to deal with the dangers of civilised life. Whichever is the greater
danger me be a matter of opinion rather than a hard and fast fact.

I don't want to start a thread on the pros and cons of civilization as I
don't feel this is the forum to do that. But as I was responding to the life
expectancy question, I felt it was relevant to point out the direction I was
coming from.

Thanks,
Adam.