Re: Early Humans Adapted Well To Different Climates And Vegetation Types

[Guest guest]

Very nice.

I saw a thing on tv about paleo peoples just this last week, and I was struck with how they mixed up recent peoples with things that happened millions of years ago. The chronology was wanton. But the data is so scarce, that I can't base any truths on one sample in maybe millions of people that lived then (in any age).

I know I'm a lot larger than Lucy.

Another thing that struck me on the Sagan's Cosmos series, I recall, was the Japanese crab that by human selection had "evolved" to have a carapace with the face of a samurai. If the shell can adapt, so can we.

An overriding thing in my silly logical mind is that humans began cultivating grains maybe as early as 20k years ago, and I don't think they did that accidentally. I have to believe that their ancestors had found that food long before them. These people cracked rocks for a million years, no doubt they could carry forward the knowledge to eat grains, after they had eaten all the animals they could kill.

Repeating previous sagas, humans wiped out untold animals in N Am and then turned to raising corn,eg, in the last 20k years. Driven by ice ages, whatever, animal hunting will deplete the herd sooner or later as the human herd increased. They had to be able to switch to eating stuff that didn't run or fight back. If that had not capability had not been programmed into the evolutionary path they'd have died out as the supply of animals dwindled.

Just my take.

Regards.

----- Original Message -----

From: aequalsz

Sent: Wednesday, August 11, 2004 12:56 PM

Subject: [ ] Early Humans Adapted Well To Different Climates And Vegetation Types

Hi Cronies:They are still looking for fresh paleo vegetable fossils I hear.http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/08/040810094131.htmAequalsz

[Guest guest]

JW has a point. Besides we THINK we know all about ancient humanity but

we're finding out we don't. Here's a recent article printed in the Wash

Post:

Israeli Site Reveals Ancient Use of Grains

By Guy Gugliotta

Scientists working in the flooded ruins of an ancient fishing camp in

Israel have found evidence that the village's residents collected wild

grain, pounded it into flour and possibly baked bread at least 10,000 years

before the advent of cultivated crops.

Researchers found traces of barley and perhaps other grains in the seams of

a grinding stone unearthed at Ohalo II, a settlement that stood on the

southwest shore of the Sea of Galilee 22,000 years ago. The discovery is the

oldest evidence yet found of humans processing cereal grains.

The research adds a new twist to the still-mysterious story of how

agriculture evolved, showing that humans began collecting and preparing

cereals perhaps thousands of years before they contemplated growing it

themselves.

" We identified barley starch and maybe wheat, " said Dolores R. Piperno, a

sonian Institution archaeobotanist who led the research team. " Barley

is the first crop to show up among cereals, and this shows that people were

focusing on it even 10,000 years earlier. "

The team found the stone in the ruins of one of six huts at Ohalo II, and

also found a paved circle of ash-covered stones that may have served as a

makeshift oven. The research was reported in today's edition of the journal

Nature.

" There were any number of hearths, but only one area lined with stones, "

Piperno said. Even today, she noted, many cultures make ovens by lighting a

fire on top of stones in an enclosed space, then shoveling the embers away

before sliding bread or other food onto the hot surface.

Ohalo II is a unique site, apparently frozen in time when it was inundated

by floodwaters. A prolonged drought caused the ancient settlement to

reemerge in 1989 and again 10 years later. Piperno said it is currently

submerged in about 10 feet of water.

Archaeologists began excavating in 1989. The site had apparently been

burned before the flooding, which helped preserve many artifacts from

insects and vermin, and sudden submergence prevented bacteria from consuming

the remains.

The result was a treasure trove. Researchers found flints, fish and animal

bones, fruit remains and fragments from hundreds of species of plants and

animals. Ohalo II is gaining a reputation as perhaps the best-preserved site

of its time anywhere. In many respects it is a Stone Age version of Pompeii,

which was buried in 79 A.D. by an eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

" The finds at Ohalo II are spectacular, " acknowledged archaeobotanist Naomi

F. of the University of Pennsylvania Museum, but their very

uniqueness " makes the site hard to evaluate, because we have nothing to

compare. "

Agriculture -- practiced by settled peoples cultivating crops -- began to

appear between 10,000 and 12,000 years ago in disparate cultures in the

Middle East, the Far East and Mesoamerica, for reasons as yet unknown.

The Ohalo II settlers identified and collected edible plants but did not

attempt to grow them in any systematic way. The variety of foods found at

Ohalo II nevertheless suggests a substantial level of sophistication among

the foragers.

" It's one of the most unusual groups of material ever found, " said

E. McGovern, a senior research scientist at the University of Pennsylvania

Museum. He said researchers have even identified grape residues at Ohalo II,

suggesting bread making may have been possible.

" Grapes have a lot of yeast on the skin, enough to start to ferment, "

McGovern said. By adding some yeast to barley dough and putting it in an

oven, the ancient homemaker could have made leavened bread.

Or perhaps wine or some other fermented beverage. " It's not impossible, "

McGovern said, but it is impossible to check. One of the chief drawbacks in

researching Stone Age eating habits is that there is no pottery. " They

probably had [fermented beverages] in leather bags or something, but those

are gone, " he said. " We have no vessels and no residues. "

Besides the milled grain, Piperno's team also saw considerable evidence of

charred or parched grains at the site, especially smaller seeds, suggesting

that the ancient residents may have gathered cereal to make gruel.

" The preservation is remarkable. It's not often you find something like

this, " Piperno said of the site.

on 8/11/2004 3:06 PM, jwwright at jwwright@... wrote:

> An overriding thing in my silly logical mind is that humans began cultivating

> grains maybe as early as 20k years ago, and I don't think they did that

> accidentally. I have to believe that their ancestors had found that food long

> before them. These people cracked rocks for a million years, no doubt they

> could carry forward the knowledge to eat grains, after they had eaten all the

> animals they could kill.

> Repeating previous sagas, humans wiped out untold animals in N Am and then

> turned to raising corn,eg, in the last 20k years. Driven by ice ages,

> whatever, animal hunting will deplete the herd sooner or later as the human

> herd increased. They had to be able to switch to eating stuff that didn't run

> or fight back. If that had not capability had not been programmed into the

> evolutionary path they'd have died out as the supply of animals dwindled.

> Just my take.

>

> Regards.

>

[Guest guest]

>>>>

From: " jwwright " <jwwright@e...>

Date: Wed Aug 11, 2004 3:06 pm

Subject: Re: Early Humans Adapted Well To Different Climates And

Vegetation Types

Another thing that struck me on the Sagan's Cosmos series, I recall,

was the Japanese crab that by human selection had " evolved " to have a

carapace with the face of a samurai. If the shell can adapt, so can

we.

>>>>

Many years ago, I remember reading some evolutionary trends that

humans have been undergoing. Some of the environmental adaptations

included:

1) Orientals have full head of hair and thick eyelids as protection

from the cold. When I visited Seoul, Korea, only foreigners and

descendants of foreigners were bald.

2) Esquimos have the above characteristic, plus a more stubby figure

to retain heat in the Arctic climate.

3) Europeans have white skin to absorb more solar rays for Vitamin D

production in the northern latitudes

4) Africans are tall and slender to dissipate the heat and their black

skin protects them from the intense solar radiation.

5) Arabs have long noses as an adaptation to living in the dry air of

the desert. The longer nose humidifies the air being breathed.

These are only the external characteristics.

Sickle cell trait, which is a genetic defect affecting the shape of

hemoglobin, provides protection against malaria. When the red cells

incubating the parasites break up (sickling), the malaria life cycle

is broken.

Orientals have a deficiency in lactase when grown up. Consequently,

they cannot digest milk. This is a consequence of the fact that they

did not evolve as herders who normally drink milk.

Etc., Etc. ..

Tony

[Guest guest]

> JW has a point. Besides we THINK we know all about ancient

humanity but

> we're finding out we don't. Here's a recent article printed in the

Wash

> Post:

>

> Israeli Site Reveals Ancient Use of Grains

>

> By Guy Gugliotta

>

> Scientists working in the flooded ruins of an ancient fishing

camp in

> Israel have found evidence that the village's residents collected

wild

> grain, pounded it into flour and possibly baked bread at least

10,000 years

> before the advent of cultivated crops.

>

Yep, you're RIGHT. Scientists previously thought that the advanced

cave art in Europe was approximately only 15K yo, but with the

discovery of the Chauvet cave in SW France had to extend that time

back to 30 or 35 K years.

http://www.hominids.com/donsmaps/chauvetcave.html

(Some of this material is R-rated - some readers may wish to NOT view

it.)

Even a gorilla has a sign language vocabulary of 1000 words,

http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2004/s1173005.htm

so it seems highly likely (to me at least) that our remote ancestors

with their small brains were able to perform many feats that would

surprise us today. And they probably ate everything they could get

their paws, claws, or hands on.

Aequalsz