Re: Hominins Ate Tubers And Bulbs
- From: "Chapstick" <chapstick@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 10 May 2007 22:38:58 -0400
"Rich Travsky" <traRvEsky@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:4642948D.7DD9FFF1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Day Brown wrote:
I think too much has been made of too little evidence to support the
denigration of other positions.
Whatever hominid sample size we have is too small to be sure it is
representative.
The discovery of a 6mya skull in Chad has not been factored into the
academic analyses. But, it fits with the outline proposed in this
thread. I mite add, however, that we are *NOT* talking about a
singular line of descent from some original Adam & Eve. Hybridization
was going on so that there is no single line that can be traced.
Lets start with these facts. 6mya, Chad was a closed drainage basin
like the Okavango, with a myriad channels and oxbow ponds of earlier
channels left wen floods carved out new channels. IOW, it was a *VERY*
diverse ecosystem, with areas of savannah within easy walking distance
of areas where the water table was close enough to support jungle, and
"water table was close enough to support jungle" - I think rainfall
would be a better metric...
no matter which direction you went, you either had to learn to swim,
or had a very long walk to get to some resource on the other side.
If you have jungle, there exists the possibility of crossing narrow
streams of water by going tree to tree. As well as the possibility the
hominins
didn't bother with figuring out how to get to the otherside and looked
for food on the side they were on. How many chimps or gorillas cross
wide rivers?
But no matter where you were, the soils were alluvial, ie, *soft*.
Digging tubers would not have been that difficult for women and even
kids. And, the seasonality would have produced tubers which saved up
water and carbs for the next wet season. Seasonal variation would also
have times when the grasses were tall, favoring the hominids tall
enough to see leopards stalking. And tall enough to wade across ponds
or swim fast enough to get out of the water before the crocodiles got
there.
Walking along the banks would have offerred tubers higher up, and
grasses closer, with crawdads & clams in the water. And fruiting trees
http://iz.carnegiemnh.org/crayfish/country_pages/AFRICA.HTM
Africa - Crayfish Species Checklist.
...
There are no native (endemic) crayfish species found in Africa.
Thanks! that definitely answers that question.
--chap
...
drawing from the water table. Females that tossed their infants into
the water would have been more able to flee or defend against a
predator at the same time they denied the predator the meal. The
infants that learned to swim stayed in the gene pool. Sure, it mite
feed the crocs, but that's not a successful hunting strategy for
leopards or hynenas.
I'm not saying that other hominids or apiths in other regions didnt
have different diets. We've been very successful becuase of our
omnivorousness. But Chad shows us where the original traits evolved
that produced the adaptability to all these other habitats.
.
- References:
- Hominins Ate Tubers And Bulbs
- From: Rich Travsky
- Re: Hominins Ate Tubers And Bulbs
- From: Day Brown
- Re: Hominins Ate Tubers And Bulbs
- From: simple_language@xxxxxxxxx
- Re: Hominins Ate Tubers And Bulbs
- From: Marc Verhaegen
- Re: Hominins Ate Tubers And Bulbs
- From: Mario Petrinovich
- Re: Hominins Ate Tubers And Bulbs
- From: Day Brown
- Re: Hominins Ate Tubers And Bulbs
- From: Rich Travsky
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