Back to our regular Saturday routine. After taking a short hiatus from Saturday Morning Physics last weekend (the topic was animals form the Museum of Zoology at U of M), we returned to the lecture hall to listen to a talk about the roll of hunting in the diets and social structure of early man. The title was, "Protein, Fat or Politics?"
Even though the lecture was not in the realm of physics, a lot of people showed up to hear the professor speak. The speaker was an archeologist by trade and a professor of anthropology. One of the reasons I wanted to see this lecture is because I want to study anthropology in university, but it was a interesting for the rest of my family; with the exception of Nick who slept through the whole talk. Basically, Dr. Speth (the professor) talked to us about the roll that big game (large animal) hunting played in early human beings' life; that the protein of the large animal that was thought to have been the reason for hunting it, was mistaken. The professor gave evidence that it was not a staple to the people's diet, but had a political meaning. Dr. Speth didn't elaborate on the political points. Instead, he concentrated on the evidence disproving the previous thought importance of the large amounts of protein the big game provided. Several points he introduced were:
• (Speaking of African Bushmen and tribes in the southern part of Africa) The men hunted the large game in the drought season, when the meat was least nutritious
• Gathering and hunting smaller animals would have brought back more food (the success rate of the big game hunting was 78-97 percent failure).
• Eating large amounts of the meat caused weight loss and malnutrition in the tribes people and he gave several other nutritional reasons why the large animal was more trouble to obtain compared to the other sources the people could have utilized.
• He said that what early man would have been eating, had the hunting not been political, was foods with more fat; since the brain is mostly fat and water and fat is the first source the body takes energy from. Not sugars, carbohydrates and protein (which takes three times the energy to break down then it returns to the body).
Dr. Speth had many other points but these seemed to be major ones.
The lecture was very interesting; we all learned a lot. Dr. Speth was a good speaker, moved from subject to subject at a good pace and made his topic fascinating.
Today is a little rainy and the sky is darkened by all the rain clouds, so I'll make a pot of tea in a little while and the boys might light a fire to keep the house warm.
じゃね。
Even though the lecture was not in the realm of physics, a lot of people showed up to hear the professor speak. The speaker was an archeologist by trade and a professor of anthropology. One of the reasons I wanted to see this lecture is because I want to study anthropology in university, but it was a interesting for the rest of my family; with the exception of Nick who slept through the whole talk. Basically, Dr. Speth (the professor) talked to us about the roll that big game (large animal) hunting played in early human beings' life; that the protein of the large animal that was thought to have been the reason for hunting it, was mistaken. The professor gave evidence that it was not a staple to the people's diet, but had a political meaning. Dr. Speth didn't elaborate on the political points. Instead, he concentrated on the evidence disproving the previous thought importance of the large amounts of protein the big game provided. Several points he introduced were:
• (Speaking of African Bushmen and tribes in the southern part of Africa) The men hunted the large game in the drought season, when the meat was least nutritious
• Gathering and hunting smaller animals would have brought back more food (the success rate of the big game hunting was 78-97 percent failure).
• Eating large amounts of the meat caused weight loss and malnutrition in the tribes people and he gave several other nutritional reasons why the large animal was more trouble to obtain compared to the other sources the people could have utilized.
• He said that what early man would have been eating, had the hunting not been political, was foods with more fat; since the brain is mostly fat and water and fat is the first source the body takes energy from. Not sugars, carbohydrates and protein (which takes three times the energy to break down then it returns to the body).
Dr. Speth had many other points but these seemed to be major ones.
The lecture was very interesting; we all learned a lot. Dr. Speth was a good speaker, moved from subject to subject at a good pace and made his topic fascinating.
Today is a little rainy and the sky is darkened by all the rain clouds, so I'll make a pot of tea in a little while and the boys might light a fire to keep the house warm.
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