Re: Gona - "First Kitchen" Fire, Food and Fish - Homo erectus didn't need fire to cook

From: richard01 (richardparker01_at_yahoo.com)
Date: 09/28/04 

Date: 28 Sep 2004 08:47:23 -0700

Gona - First Kitchen

Rich Travsky <traRvEsky@hotMOVEmail.com> wrote in message news:<4157A847.2050C02@hotMOVEmail.com>...
> Just came across this:
>
> http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20031117/kitchen.html
> Nov. 21, 2003
> ...
> Researchers could link only one of the bones to a specific animal species.
> It is an anklebone from an equid, a mammal belonging to a family that
> includes horses, asses, zebras, and extinct related animals.
> ...
>
> That's at 2.5 mya. It didn't just start overnight.

Further thoughts:

I live in a Filipino fishing village - 90% of the protein my
neighbours eat is fish and other seafood - they catch and eat tuna
(and sell it in the village market for 80c a kilo) and lobsters, that
you might pay a whole lot more for.

Almost all of them keep a pig for a future special feast. They treat
it like a pet, even walking it down to the sea for a daily bathe.

When the time comes, they kill it, not very pleasantly.

They shave the bristles - with a clam shell, and skewer it on a long
piece of bamboo.

While it is roasting, over an open fire, they baste the skin with 7Up,
to give it a caramelised, crispy finish. Cooking takes about 3-4
hours.

When it is ready, the host chops it up with a bolo (Filipino machete)
and his guests (usually a minimum of 25 invitees) descend on it. The
whole pig is only a few bones within 15 minutes.

Then they drink themselves stupid, on tuba (coconut wine) but just
about remember to take their own containers home.

After the feast, they bury the bones, to keep the dogs off; usually
where the fire was. So the bones are concentrated, and most of them
have bolo cut-marks, unlike the fish and shellfish they eat every day,
when they wash the dishes out in the sea, and let the bones and shells
be scattered by the tides.

So, in a million years or two, our Intrepid Archaelogist digs at the
spot, and finds:

- Pig bones, with cut marks
- An abandoned clam shell - not very interesting, because there are
hundreds of others about.
- An empty 7Up bottle

With a degree or two, and a whole bunch of preconceived ideas, our IA
concludes:

- Seashore + trees - protection from predators and shade
- Bones with cut marks - Ah-hah! Hunting - we've just found proof!
- 7Up bottle - very mysterious (perhaps a religious object, or a
tribal totem?) - keep it, but don't publish for fear of looking
foolish to your peers.

If you go looking for something, with your eyes blinkered, you'll
probably find it, but you'll miss out on a whole lot else.

Richard

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