Mammoth meals helped early tribes thrive

The Times ^ | April 18, 2006 | Mark Henderson

[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.""

[wintertime]

I am reminded of that delightful Jimmy Buffett song " Cheeseburger is Paradise".

[DJ Taylor]

If one applied the same laws of nature to humans as are applied to wild life, one could surmise that a hard life in a demanding climate removed the weak and the stupid from the human gene pool before they could reproduce. This, of course, strengthened the human population in the northern areas, but just the opposite happened in the southern areas where there was little or no "pressure" on the human population.

[Conservative Firster]

Scientists 'to clone mammoth'

[hypocritter]

Can you imagine the drumstick?

Seriously. Like buffalo wings from a real buffalo!

[TheForceOfOne]

All this talk about food is making me hungry, now where did Wilma put those brontosaurus burgers....

[Cold Heart]

Chances of making a mammoth successfully, 80 to 90%.
That's about 15 X better then drawing an antelope tag in Oregon. When can I put in for my mammoth tag?

[dennisw]

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."

And perhaps the challenge of surviving a cold snowy winter produced people with greater thinking capacity. Food is not available year 'round. One must prepare and plan ahead. And your tribe had to prepare and store food for the winter

[dennisw]

If one applied the same laws of nature to humans as are applied to wild life, one could surmise that a hard life in a demanding climate removed the weak and the stupid from the human gene pool before they could reproduce. This, of course, strengthened the human population in the northern areas, but just the opposite happened in the southern areas where there was little or no "pressure" on the human population.

Deserts are also demanding environments. I would say it made the Arabs tougher even though today they mostly live in cities.

[A Balrog of Morgoth]

Who paid Captain Obvious to do the research on this brilliant theory?

[george76]

We also recently learned that it is the sun that is causing global warming.

[Centurion2000]

Scientists 'to clone mammoth'

Russians and Eskimos to get a nice hunting trade in 50 + years.

How'd you like a Mammoth Rug and some tusks for a trophy room?

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks george76.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.

Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
"Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list or GGG weekly digest
-- Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)

[Varda]

This Pleistocene "vegetarian contemporaries" idea is a PETA induced fantasy. Trust a British paper to include it in a science story.

Clue to the Times,
"Humans evolved beyond their vegetarian roots and became meat-eaters at the dawn of the genus Homo, around 2.5 million years ago, according to a study of our ancestors' teeth."
(http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn4122)

[Renfield]

".....Meat Good....."

Yep....think I'll take some venison out of the freezer....

[Renfield]

Bear tastes better than antelope (to me, anyway), and you can buy a bear permit over the counter in Oregon. Why go after antelope?

[RouxStir]

"Last year, the Vladivostok News in Russia reported that scientists believed they could resurrect extinct animals - such as the mammoth and the woolly rhinoceros - to create a prehistoric safari park in northern Siberia.

The region's limited infrastructure was seen as one of the obstacles to establishing such a sanctuary."

Talk about putting the cart before the mammoth.

What ever happened to the talk about cloning from this frozen mammoth tissue?

[Cold Heart]

I have my spring bear permit and am ready to go. I even picked up some sausage casings two days ago.

Antelope? I spent 13 years putting in for a tag before I got drawn. I didn't get an antelope but it was a memorable different kind of hunt.

[DavemeisterP]

I wrote a thesis paper while I was in school (@ 15 yrs. ago) stating that it was only a matter of time before the scientists cloned mammoths. The technologies involved were heading toward each other at that time. Do you know about the Sierra Club and some of the other related groups that are buying up land across the world to create Pleistocene parks to put these creations on? One of them currently owned takes up parts of Kansas, Nebraska, and Oklahoma. They want to get rid of all trace of humans and fill it with mammoths,camels,lions, cave bears, whatever THEY think is the closest relation to the last ice age.
Theoretically, We WILL be able to clone anything up to 40,000 years ago. Giant armadillos, Giant Sloths,dodo birds, woolly rhinos, any of the saber-toothed cats, you name it, It could really be done. So, my point of all of this is, with the direction that these radical groups like the Sierra Club are heading, we may all get a chance someday to see these creatures again, for better or worse. What happens when saber-toothed cats decide we make easier prey? Here in Texas, it's a hanging offense to have a pair of fence cutters in you're back pocket(never enforced anymore), would that law get reinstated after some high school seniors decided to pull a trick, cut the fence, and got eaten? On the other hand, placing the park down on the border with Mexico might fix a few things too. Forget just building a fence. Feed the cats, AND stop Illegal Immigration, now that sells!

I don't know anymore, the world's becoming a weird place to live in.

[RouxStir]

"Theoretically, We WILL be able to clone anything up to 40,000 years ago."

1776 Philadelphia Theme Park complete with living cloned Founding Fathers?

[Grampa Dave]

Don't forget the barbequed ribs! MMMM!