Simon Mead, cannibalism, and Soldevila, et. al.

[Johnwl4@Ao]

In 2003, Simon Mead, et. al., did a study purporting to show
that there is a genetic signature in mankind that shows
cannibalism has been common. The article was discussed on this
group at that time. I raised the question of the Arens book on
a Yahoo group, and then have just seen a reference to Mead in
Nicholas Wade's _Before the Dawn_ ( which I am finding most
interesting.) However, I have just Googled and found that
Soldevila, et.al., reviewed the math, and found there is no
genetic evidence for cannibalism, except maybe among the
Fores. So perhaps this group might like to chew on that. BTW,
any comments on _Before the Dawn_? Regards John GW

[Jois]

"johnwl4@aol.com" <jgissw@pwi.net> wrote in message
news:1166030038.776895.78040@73g2000cwn.googlegroups.com...
>
> In 2003, Simon Mead, et. al., did a study purporting to
> show that there is a genetic signature in mankind that
> shows cannibalism has been common. The article was
> discussed on this group at that time. I raised the
> question of the Arens book on a Yahoo group, and then have
> just seen a reference to Mead in Nicholas Wade's _Before
> the Dawn_ ( which I am finding most interesting.) However,
> I have just Googled and found that Soldevila, et.al.,
> reviewed the math, and found there is no genetic evidence
> for cannibalism, except maybe among the Fores. So perhaps
> this group might like to chew on that. BTW, any comments
> on _Before the Dawn_? Regards John GW
>

A couple of authors have made strong cases (and naturally I
can't remember which ones) for the accusation of cannibalism
being slur against other tribes or groups of people - kind of
like the rhetoric a modern government would put forth when
preparing to invade another country.

How would there be a genetic signature for cannibalism? I know
there is a genetic signature for the ability to drink milk
after childhood but human flesh? Can you explain? Send me an
article which does explain? Just seems weird.

Jois

--
My dogs are not my children. At least that is what their piano
teacher says.

[Billgill]

johnwl4@aol.com wrote:
>
> BTW, any comments on _Before the Dawn_? Regards John GW
>

I read _Before the Dawn_ and my impression was Discover
Magazine, but longer. There were some interesting things in
the first part of it. Mostly about the migration path of Out
of Africa 2. But those left a lot of questions in my mind.
Then he got off on some extremely speculative items and lost
it completely as far as I was concerned.

Bill Gill

[Johnwl4@Ao]

BillGill wrote:
> johnwl4@aol.com wrote:
> >
> > BTW, any comments on _Before the Dawn_? Regards John
> > GW
> >
>
> I read _Before the Dawn_ and my impression was Discover
> Magazine, but longer. There were some interesting things in
> the first part of it. Mostly about the migration path of Out
> of Africa 2. But those left a lot of questions in my mind.
> Then he got off on some extremely speculative items and lost
> it completely as far as I was concerned.
>
> Bill Gill

Rather inclined to agree with you - not bad for a library
book to introduce the public to the subject, except it's
bound to become out of date rapidly. Also useful, maybe, as
a suggestion of what subjects bear looking into on the net
for more recent developments. But pretty general.
Incidentally, we don't seem to agree with E. O. Wilson.
Regards John GW