Re: Salt and Neandertals (Re: Sodium homeostasis... was Re: tears
Rich Travsky (rtravsky@UWYO.EDU)
7 Nov 95 22:47:53 MST
"J.E.Hawcroft" <J.E.Hawcroft@shef.ac.uk> writes:
>Look, about Neanderthals.
>1) I expect they would have dried their meats, pulses, legumes, roots and
>fat for winter storage. No fresh fruit perhaps but beggars can't be
>choosers. And they could probably hunt when they felt like it in winter,
>what with all those snuggly furs to wear.
More like when they needed to hunt as opposed to when they felt like it.
>2) Can't you get salt from animal fat? Chimps lick treebark and cows lick
>rocks to get at some salt, so you don't need to live near a source.
>Moreover, there are plants which would have grown in Ice Age Europe which
>contain salt or salt-like stuff (eg coltsfoot). So they would have had
>saltiness for seasoning and metabolism, just not for storage (but see
>above).
Alternate sources of salt obviate the need to have an out and out salt
lick lying about...
>3) Show me the neanderthal dated to 700,000 ya (and I'll laugh).
>If you were living in Ice Age Europe I think salt would be the least of
>your worries.
Precisely. Fresh water, for example, would be a major concern.
+----------+ Rich Travsky RTRAVSKY @ UWYO . EDU
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