Subject: Re: Food of Early Hominids

From: [email-masked] (R.L.Rush)
Date: 5 Apr 1995 00:39:07 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Ian Engle) wrote:

> Ian Engle ([email-masked]) wrote:
> 
> <<Dammit, I will learn how this program works and stop sending blank
> responses to the newsgroups!>>
> 
>         I have no idea how reliable it is, but about 10 years ago a book
> came out called The Paeleolithic Prescription.  It was interesting,
> although I never did much more than skim it, but my joke is that the
> premise was, if YOU can catch it, pull it down or dig it up, you can eat it.

To steal a line from the Lion King: 

                                                Slimy, yet satisfying.

Rich

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From: [email-masked] (Ian Engle)
Date: 4 Apr 1995 17:36:58 -0400

--I

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From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 1995 12:43:18 GMT

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Margaret Young) writes:

>Then there are corroliths (spelling?) every archaeologist's friend.

I think you mean "coproliths" right?  Literally translated means "sh*t stones" 
i.e., fossilized excrement.  Yes, a fine way to analyze early diets, even if a 
bit yecchy.  

The Elitist

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From: [email-masked] (SDunavan)
Date: 15 Apr 1995 10:13:36 -0400

I think you mean coprolites, otherwise known as paleofeces.  They're
pretty solid evidence for diet (sorry, paleoscatology seems to engender
these puns) but I don't know of any coprolites more than 10,000 years old
-- hardly before the Neolithic & origins of agriculture.  Like plants,
they just don't preserve that well, and although I've heard of mineralized
dinosaur turds, I've never heard of a similar early hominid find.  I
imagine most paleoanthropologists would be thrilled to find one, but
imagine asking for funding to look for it...

Sandy