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Mammoth meals helped early tribes thrive
The Times ^
| April 18, 2006
| Mark Henderson
Posted on 4/18/2006, 2:13:44 AM by george76
REGULAR meals of mammoth meat helped some early human tribes to expand more quickly than their largely vegetarian contemporaries, according to a genetic study.
Human populations in east Asia about 30,000 years ago developed at dramatically different rates, following a pattern that appears to reflect the availability of mammoths and other large game.
In the part of the region covering what is now northern China, Mongolia and southern Siberia, vast plains teemed with mammals such as mammoths, mastodons and woolly rhinoceroses and the number of early human beings grew between 34,000 and 20,000 years ago.
Further south, where the terrain was covered in thick forest, the population expansion began much later - between 18,000 and 12,000 years ago.
Chris Tyler-Smith, of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridgeshire, who led the research, said: "The only robust explanation for the early success of the northern populations is that they enjoyed a better and richer diet: they thrived on mammoths and other large animals."
A diet rich in mammoth meat would have improved overall nutrition, giving people a ready source of protein and fat that would have been invaluable during the last ice age, Dr Tyler-Smith said.
"The mammoths' value would not just have been for food: they would also have provided materials such as skins and bones for use in clothing, shelter and toolmaking.""
TOPICS: Australia/New Zealand; Culture/Society; Extended News; Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: alf; asia; china; clothing; dietandcuisine; earlyhuman; east; eastasia; elf; freepun; godsgravesglyphs; improved; improvednutrition; mammoth; mammothmeat; mammoths; mastodons; meat; mongolia; nutrition; overall; peta; petasucks; protein; rhinoceroses; shelter; siberia; toolmaking; vegans; vegetarianism; vegetarians; woolly; woollyrhinoceroses
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1
posted on
4/18/2006, 2:13:46 AM
by
george76
To: george76
PETA will not be pleased.
2
posted on
4/18/2006, 2:15:42 AM
by
Dog Gone
To: george76
3
posted on
4/18/2006, 2:16:48 AM
by
cripplecreek
(Never a minigun handy when you need one.)
To: fanfan; SunkenCiv
4
posted on
4/18/2006, 2:16:56 AM
by
george76
(Ward Churchill : Fake Indian, Fake Scholarship, and Fake Art)
To: Dog Gone
Perhaps we can convince PETA to go the way of the mammoth, out of solidarity....
Have to put a lot of ketchup on them though...
5
posted on
4/18/2006, 2:17:12 AM
by
Donald Meaker
(A Turk is always a Turk, but you don't know WHAT a Christian will do.)
To: Dog Gone
Bad news for PETA, ELF, and ALF.
6
posted on
4/18/2006, 2:18:20 AM
by
george76
(Ward Churchill : Fake Indian, Fake Scholarship, and Fake Art)
To: george76
I knew this from watching the Flintstones.
7
posted on
4/18/2006, 2:19:09 AM
by
Swiss
To: george76; aculeus; Senator Bedfellow; MississippiDeltaDawg
8
posted on
4/18/2006, 2:19:12 AM
by
dighton
To: cripplecreek
A mammoth burger or a mammoth, mammoth burger.
9
posted on
4/18/2006, 2:19:33 AM
by
george76
(Ward Churchill : Fake Indian, Fake Scholarship, and Fake Art)
To: Donald Meaker
MORBO FINDS PETAFREAKS TO BE STRINGY AND BITTER. BRING ME KITTENS!!
10
posted on
4/18/2006, 2:22:03 AM
by
cripplecreek
(Never a minigun handy when you need one.)
To: george76
Looked at slightly differently, it appears that people in the North have a tendency to work hard and maximize the potential use of their surroundings. People in warmer, more Southern areas have a tendency to kick back and take it easy. "Don't worry, be happy."
11
posted on
4/18/2006, 2:23:31 AM
by
ClearCase_guy
(Never question Bruce Dickinson!)
To: Grampa Dave; GreenFreeper
"early human tribes to expand more quickly than their largely vegetarian contemporaries..."
12
posted on
4/18/2006, 2:24:00 AM
by
george76
(Ward Churchill : Fake Indian, Fake Scholarship, and Fake Art)
To: george76
Can you imagine the drumstick?
13
posted on
4/18/2006, 2:26:24 AM
by
pissant
To: george76
Mmmm. I want some ribs.
14
posted on
4/18/2006, 2:27:36 AM
by
KarlInOhio
(If you have a leaking pipe, you shut off the water valve before deciding on amnesty for the puddles.)
To: george76
Hold on a minute. I'm just imagining what a mammoth porterhouse would look like.
15
posted on
4/18/2006, 2:29:01 AM
by
RichInOC
([cue Aaron Copland's "Hoedown" and Sam Elliot saying...] "Mammoth...it's what's for dinner.")
To: george76
Vegetarian: Indian word for "bad hunter."
16
posted on
4/18/2006, 2:29:34 AM
by
Coyoteman
(Interim tagline: The UN 1967 Outer Space Treaty is bad for America and bad for humanity - DUMP IT!)
To: george76
Oh my. That does look delicious.
17
posted on
4/18/2006, 2:29:37 AM
by
Alouette
(Psalms of the Day: 90-96)
To: george76
Bummer - I was looking for a justification for eating mammoth meals, not meals of mammoth!
18
posted on
4/18/2006, 2:31:51 AM
by
VoiceOfBruck
(Covered by the Holy Spirit and armed to the teeth.)
To: george76
Top of the food chain, Ma!
19
posted on
4/18/2006, 2:35:17 AM
by
LibKill
(Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. - Benjamin Franklin)
To: george76
I just knew that BBQ and grilling was good for you.
All the vegetarians I know are always sickly and ill more often than me. And they whine a lot too. The poor things are unhappy and in need of a good steak and a glass of red wine.
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