There's an interesting counter-argument to Alan Walker's suggestion of
hypervitaminosis A in H. erectus--namely yaws.
Rothschild, Bruce M., Israel Hershkovitz, and Christine Rothschild
1995 Origin of Yaws in the Pleistocene. Nature 378:343-344.
Cheers,
john
On Tue, 15 May 2001, Ariane Burke wrote:
> Hello Dale,
> carnivores are not numerous, which may be one reason they don't
> turn up frequently on the dinner table though their furs are certainly
> common... however, at least one plio-pleistocene case of hyper-vitaminosis
> (A) in an African hominid is suspected to result from eating carnivore
> livers and resulted in death. I can hunt down the reference if you like...
> AB
>
> Ariane Burke, Assoc. Prof.
> Dept. of Anthropology,
> U. of Manitoba, Winnipeg,
> MB, Canada, R3T 5V5
> Tel. (204) 474-6654 Fax. (204) 474-7600
>
> "Scholarship is
> the enemy of romance.
> Where does that leave me?
> Alone in the rain again."
> (B. Bragg from "Life's a Riot")
>
John D. Speth Home (734) 662-9505
Museum of Anthropology Office: (734) 764-1240
4009 Museums Building E-mail: [log in to unmask]
University of Michigan Fax: (734) 763-7783
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