The Paleoanthropology and Archaeology of Big-Game Hunting

The Importance of Dietary Carbohydrate in Human Evolution

“…There is a limit, considered to be 35-40%, to the amount of energy requirements humans can derive from proteins; above this ceiling protein toxicity can occur, which can cause death quite rapidly (Speth 2010). It has been suggested from evidence of the dietary practices of hunter-gatherer populations, both present day and historical, that humans avoid diets that exceed this limit for protein (Speth 1989;Cordain et al 2000).…”

Nutritional values of tortoises relative to ungulates from the Middle Stone Age levels at Blombos Cave, South Africa: Implications for foraging and social behaviour

“…According to Sebastian et al (2002), it would also meet just under a third of the average estimated caloric requirements for a hunter-gatherer (12,552 kJ/3000 kcal) and just under half the amount of their estimated daily protein intake (234-258g depending on the relative 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 Nutritional value of tortoises and foraging implications at Blombos Cave 17 proportions of animal and plant products in the diet). Although subsisting entirely on tortoises is unfeasible in the long-term (Speth, 2010), they would provide a useful daily source of protein and calories.…”

“…Table 8 uses the daily caloric requirement for a hunter-gatherer of 12,552 kJ/3000 kcal and the calorie estimates from the larger sample of deposit to estimate scenarios of a diet of animal products only, a 55% animalto-plant diet, and a 35% animal-to-plant diet (Sebastian et al, 2002). Clearly, an allanimal product diet is neither reasonable nor sustainable in the long term (Speth and Spielmann, 1983;Speth, 2010), but it does provide a minimum number of nutrition-days represented at the site. In spite of the fact that the data only sample approximately 20% (for M1) and 5% (for M3) of the deposit present, the relatively small number of nutritiondays speaks to either a very short, punctuated period or periods of occupation or a very prolonged and highly ephemeral and opportunistic use of the cave.…”

Dogs And Mankind: Coevolution on the Move – An Update

“…However, recent studies have debunked the myth of carnivorous nutrition (Speth & Spielmann, 1983Speth, 2010Henry, Brooks & Piperno 2014;Hardy et al, 2015;Fiorenza et al, 2015;Melamed et al 2016) and indicate an omnivorous diet based on foraging. The recovery of Eurasia mankind from the bottleneck is most likely unrelated to changes in climate or vegetation but rather to Schleidt the invention of new armament, i.e.…”