As has been noted in other threads, we've got plenty of evidence on neanderthal diet in Europe, but little on our paleolithic ancestors when they were still in Africa.  A recent paper helps fill that gap, reporting on a camp site in eastern Turkana dated to 1,950,000 years ago.

Unfortunately, the full paper is not free, but there's a good analysis at John Hawks' web site.  Here are links to his blog entry and to the paper:

http://johnhawks.net/weblog/reviews/archaeology/lower/braun-fwjj20-2010.html
http://www.pnas.org/content/107/22/10002

The press has emphasized the presence of fish in the remains, and that is interesting, but much more interesting is the predominance of large mammals.  The remains included a minimum of 1 turtle and 1 crocodile - and 11 hippos and 17 bovids (antelope).

That seems to me further evidence that humans preferred to eat the biggest animals they could get - in Africa as well as elsewhere.

Thanks for the link.

That seems to me further evidence that humans preferred to eat the biggest animals they could get - in Africa as well as elsewhere.

I don't think anyone disputes that. Bigger animal = more fat = more calories and better nutrition.

It would be interesting to know Dr. Cordain's opinion on this, I think he is realizing animal fat was more important to HGs than he first thought.

Quote from: ajmesa on June 22, 2010, 06:02:58 PM

Thanks for the link.

Quote from: Warren Dew on June 18, 2010, 05:22:17 AM

That seems to me further evidence that humans preferred to eat the biggest animals they could get - in Africa as well as elsewhere.

I don't think anyone disputes that. Bigger animal = more fat = more calories and better nutrition.

It would be interesting to know Dr. Cordain's opinion on this, I think he is realizing animal fat was more important to HGs than he first thought.

Has he ever publicly retracted his lean meat ideology?

He has not said to replace lean meats with fatty meats, but his newer articles say that paleolithic consumption of saturated fats was higher than what is recommended today. I don't think he recommends a high animal fat diet, but surely more than he did initially.

His problem with high animal fat is related mostly to the frozen bodies of pre-contact Eskimos. The frozen mummies had atherosclerosis. I am curious, what is your opinion on this? I looked into it at some point and it seemed the problem was lack of magnesium in their diet. Lots of polyunsaturated fats from blubber might have been an issue too.

Quote from: ajmesa on June 24, 2010, 09:24:49 PM

His problem with high animal fat is related mostly to the frozen bodies of pre-contact Eskimos. The frozen mummies had atherosclerosis. I am curious, what is your opinion on this? I looked into it at some point and it seemed the problem was lack of magnesium in their diet. Lots of polyunsaturated fats from blubber might have been an issue too.

To be honest I'd not heard about the eskimo atherosclerosis, and I'll be looking into it now.

Wow this is an interesting read - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aboriginal_peoples_in_Canada#Paleo-Indians_period

It suggests to me that the Eskimo diet of the last couple thousand years was not at all similar to what it would have been a long time back.

The Eskimos with severe atherosclerosis were dated back to 1500s. Tell me if you need the reference. Here is a thread where he is asked about it:

http://www.meandmydiabetes.com/2010/03/24/loren-cordain-caution-on-saturated-fats-disaster-with-grains-will-be-public-after-march-25th/

Read the comments, Stephan made an interesting point.

Now I am curious. Do you know of any paper that documents populations free of atherosclerosis. I know there are 2 papers looking at the issue in the Masai people. One of them (with few autopsies) didn't find much atherosclerosis. The second (larger) one did find atherosclerosis but only in the ages when the Masai were not warriors (so they were not in the all meat/blood/milk diet). It seems to indicate that diet is not the problem. If I am not mistaken, milk does provide enough magnesium which the Eskimos lacked. Here Stephan talks about these two studies:

http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2008/06/masai-and-atherosclerosis.html

What do you think, have you been able to figure out why the Eskimos showed atherosclerosis? Do you know of any paper that documents populations free of atherosclerosis? (paleo or non paleo, doesn't matter)

lol

Full text now available

http://www.pnas.org/content/107/22/10002.full