J.S.

Thanks again for another great article. I would just like to point out a couple of things, however. You mention illness regarding us Indians as hunter-gatherers. Illness was actually rarely a problem for my ancestors. Things like obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and so on were unknown, as they didn't have the modern day poisonous western diet to contend with. My ancestors ate healthy food; mostly buffalo organs and fat. Most of the actual meat (muscle) they would dry into jerky and save for later. They also didn't live in today's antiseptic environment, with anti-bacterial wipes, soaps, over-prescribed antibiotics, and so on. Their immune systems were kept strong by regularly being challenged, and illness was usually either avoided or quite serious. It was pretty much either-or. Either you got a life-threatening illness, or you were healthy. Illnesses were very rare, though. (At least before the Europeans showed up) By far most premature deaths were caused by injury.

On a less local level, of course knives made from flint, obsidian, or other stone suitable for knapping would not only be able to cut through elephant hide, but could do so easily. Such knives can have edges that are only a molecule thick or so, and are usually much sharper and harder than the sharpest of modern steel blades. Their only problem, of course, is that they are brittle, but handled properly they will make short work of the toughest of hides. Skilled knappers made blades for every purpose, from basic butchery to skinning and flensing. For those people who doubt this, they only need think of how sharp the edges of shattered glass are. Same thing. Wicked sharp.

I really don't mean to argue with you at every turn here. It just seemed to me that since you were asserting that my ancestors weren't quite as dumb as some people seem to think, you might want to have a couple additional facts.

I really do like your articles. Please keep up the good work. Who knows, you might even save a life or two along the way. If even one is saved, it is all worth it.

Sincerely,

Cornelius.

Great reviews. I actually had 2 courses with Dr Frison at UWyo. Wish I'd had this "paleo" world view then! I live in the Black Hills of SD, most recently Lakota lands, and there are a few mass-kill sites of bison within an easy drive. I will be paying those a visit and using a different view to the details having read these works.

The great "Mammoth Site" is just an hour away as well, but I don't think human cut marks have been found on bones there, still neat to see mammoth bones.

As it is 20 below here today, I was reflecting what a well-supplied aboriginal camp might be like right now. Pretty good living I'd think.

my man and i live in wa. state. he hunts all the meat we have and i grow all the nuts, tubers and berries and fruits we eat. hunters gatherers are alive today. even if we lived in a town, it would be possible to live as our bodies require. all that crap that is supposed to be food that is sold in stores, in simply to make monies for the producers. i am a capitalist, but i do not believe people should be making money on ill-health and the deaths that are caused by not eating like your body requires. i also believe one should eat the foods where your gene pool comes from. i am scandinavian. i eat elk and the other plants that grow there. i am QUITE healthy.

I came across this page two months ago, then downloaded the PDF version of IHSI. In a sense, it has changed my intellectual life.

I took one physical anthropology class way back in 1969. My paleo involvement since 2009 and with the advent of the internet awakened old curiosities.

IHSI was an intellectual smörgåsbord. I'm still reflecting on the observations and stories.

Sadly, after reading it I started searching online for other sources. I even went so far as to do something like "vegetarian plains indians," not sure why. Well, lo and behold, there are vegans out there...with some undefined PhD.....claiming that the buffalo killing years of the plains Indians were a brief period after the introduction of horses. That before horses, they were vegetarian!

Right, at that latitude and with very little moisture! Lessee, berries and some arrowroot type tubers perhaps? Fueling human critters needing 3-7 thousands of calories a day?

I find such fantasies part of the vegan "MSU" mindset. Making Stuff/Shit Up. The facts are contrary? No problem! MSU!