Archaeologica.org

Maybe these guys ran into the remains of a clan of vegans. It's as reasonable to suggest that as to jump to the conclusion that since they ate mostly meat, they probably hunted mammoths. I mean they may have. but nothing in that study indicates specifically that they hunted mammoths. I hate shit like that. Leaping to conclusion is the main reason there is so much confusion and contention in archaeology today. I have spoken!

Neanderthals likely were skilled hunters

Looks as though their job description has been upgraded as well!

Roy.

Maybe. Of course Frank might have a point. Perhaps there was a group which specialized in hunting turnips or something. One would probably not even need an atlatl to bring down a turnip.

I was only trying to make a point about conjecture. It's ok to speculate on what "might" have been going on, but to publish that as anything more than speculation is irresponsible. That's what leads to dissension among the experts. Clovis first was a speculation that became accepted as fact and we all know what kind of shit storm that has caused.

I've made the same obsrvations Frank regarding, 'cold blooded Dinos', brain size as a reflection of intelligence, non'flying Dactyls.
As Goebbels suggested, tell it often enough and people will believe it.

Roy

I was only trying to make a point about conjecture.

Yeah and I agree with you. One does not need sharp stone spear points to pick vegetables. I'm sure HNS ate whatever was handy but he seems more like a carnivore than a herbivore.

I am absolutely certain that he was an omnivore. But.....that's only me speculating.

Ditto! I flatly refuse to believe that a man will ignore ripe fruit to pursue game that might be available over the next hill!

Roy.

Fruit is just so much easier to catch.

Yep! Not even Runner beans are that fast!

Roy.

In my not so humble opinion, I believe that any and all hominids ate whatever was available to assuage hunger pangs. It would be terminally stupid to stick to one dietary regime, when there may be more than one food available. Since the accepted "wisdom" is that an organism strives to survive long enough to reproduce, then eating whatever is available to prolong one's life makes sense. (I nearly choked on the euphemism "USO"... What, are the terms roots and tubers no longer acceptable? lol)

In the Crete thread is a Nat Geo article which makes this point about Homo Erectus 750,000 years ago.

"One of the highlights of our report is that people ate fish more than 750,000 years ago," Goren-Inbar said.

The encampment, located on an ancient lakeshore, holds some of the earliest evidence of fish eating ever found, according to the study, published in the journal Science. Bones at the site suggest a now extinct, yard-long (meter-long) carp species was a common meal, for example.

If HE figured out that fish were good why would he pass up an apple or a root. These people were capable of surviving in a very hostile environment. I'm certain that they left no stone unturned to do so.

HE's primary habitat and food source, and so determining his migration routes, was the waterline. The coastlines of that era! Now well under water, and far out to sea.

Shellfish, crabs, mussels, octopi, little fish in ebbtide ponds, the waterline was/is dependably year round abundant with protein rich food. It just needs to be picked up. 'Gathered'. Hardly impaired by seasons. An activity in which the whole family group could partake, old and young, with relatively little physical dangers, as compared to the extremely risky business of big game hunting on the plains.
On the landside all kinds of roots, fruits, and berries could be found (for dietary variation; homo was an omnivore, then and now). So those hominin may have been "hunter/gatherers", but I'll bet you a grand they were 95% gatherer, and just 5% hunter!
And fresh water came from streams, brooks, and rivers emptying in the sea. Streams, brooks, and rivers that also forced HE to learn to cross them. A growing know-how that eventually developed into sailing. As in boats...

Coastlines were HE's highways.

And Meganthropus paleojavanicus is proof that HE knew about sailing before 1,57 mya.
Unless he walked to Java across dry land, of course.

He was an enterprising and crafty ol' geezer, our Gramps:

Frank Harrist wrote:I am absolutely certain that he was an omnivore. But.....that's only me speculating.

You may be speculating, Frank, but science isn't: HN was an omnivore, just like HS(S) was/is. And we/they (the scientists) know that for damn sure because his dentures show it clearly. Apart from regional variations HN was exactly the same as HS(S) is, in that respect.

his dentures show it clearly

???? He's hardly got any left, for one thing. For another, absent the effect of silica grit on said dentation from grinding seeds and such, would the difference between a lifetime spent eating meat and a lifetime of eating carrots show up in wear differences ? Tooth enamel is apatite (neat name, no ?), Mohs hardness 6.5