On Thu, 19 Oct 2000 07:23:24 -0400, Amadeus Schmidt <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >A most important change in nutrition took place only 40k years back, not >determined by genetics, but by *cultural changes*. William Calvin ( http://faculty.washington.edu/wcalvin/ ), a neuroscientist, discusses in many places throughout his work the *ability to throw* being a key driver for advantage in human evolution. I don't think we were throwing things at plants :-). "A good case can be made for hunting as the most important hominid dietary source, simply because of the reliance in marginal climates upon meat. That's because margins are more important than population centers. Selection pressures are harsher in marginal climates, so change is more likely to be made by natural selection biasing the population towards those with important traits such as the ability to stalk and aim and throw." http://faculty.washington.edu/wcalvin/bk3/bk3day9.htm http://faculty.washington.edu/wcalvin/bk3/bk3day10.htm Philip Thrift "Paleofitness" http://www.paleofitness.com