Amidst Jane Galt's current flirtation with the life of the carnivore, Discover says that ancient Brits literally ate like wolves.

Andrew Myers, an archaeologist with the Derbyshire County Council who has recently undertaken a review of the Mesolithic in England's east Midlands, was not entirely surprised "that terrestrial animals provided the main source of dietary protein."

But he was astonished by the extent to which land meats dominated over other potential sources, like vegetable and nut proteins.

And of course, this being pre-agricultural, no grains at all. This isn't that many generations removed from us, and it's unlikely that Jane (who judging by her real name is almost certainly of Celtic descent), has evolved that much from her ancestors (I suspect that the Lady of Trent described in the article was a Celt, since this was long before the Angles and the Saxons...). She's probably a carnivore by nature, as is much of humanity.

To me, this backs up Sears' proposition that a modern (post-agricultural) diet is not one that our bodies are designed for, and is the cause of much of our ailments. Agriculture gave us civilization, and allows us a much greater population, but we may be paying a high price in our health for it.

This has interesting implications for plans to feed the third world. It would certainly indicate that researchers should be working on more higher-protein-content crops, and perhaps more attention to aquaculture and small-animal ranching (i.e., rabbits) to improve production efficiency of protein sources.

If she was from 7,700 years ago she was probably from the pre-Celtic population of the British Isles. Then again, many people with Celtic or Anglo-Saxon names are still mostly pre-Celtic genetically, and the Cheshie Man mitochondrial DNA test data suggest.

"If she was from 7,700 years ago she was probably from the pre-Celtic population of the British Isles."

I'd say that's an understatement. I think the Celts arrived in the Isles no earlier than around the time of Christ (I'm not a cultural anthropologist, nor do I play one on TV, so I make no warranties about the preceding -- I may have read it on a cereal box).

The Picts were, according to some of my favorite cereal boxes, already there by then. There doesn't seem to be anything substantial about when they arrived, which may, but then again may not, suggest deep antiquity.

If you look at the skeletal evidence of the health effects of the transition from hunter-gatherer to agriculturalist, there's no doubt of the unhealthy effects of a grain-heavy diet: people got smaller, and rickets and other deficiencies and various diseases became much more common.

But that's a fundamental start-up cost of civilization.

Not necessarily a "C"arnivore by nature. Omnivore more likely. The current dogmas of high carb or high protien are trash. Leafy plants and fruits with healthy doses of small mammal, bird, fish, and insect(yuck!) protiens will eventually prove to be the most healthy for homo sapiens. Current technology could easily produce enough leafy greens and fruits to replace high starch carbs in the modern diet. The current food pyramid foisted upon us by the powers that be is downright criminal.

Certainly our dentition would indicate that we're designed to be omnivorous.

The agricultural diet is largely responsible for the burgeoning population of the earth, and ever lengthening lifespans.

Sedentary lifestyles are the largest culprit responsible for modern ailments. Next to that, the abundance of fatty/sugary foods, made possible by division of labor and capitalist production, is responsible.

The ever-lengthening lifespans are made possible by the societal wealth allowed by agriculture, but those lifespans would be even longer, and of higher quality, if we could return to the diets to which we evolved not that many generations ago. Grains have been a mixed blessing for the health of the human race.

The Celts spread through Northern Europe (and into Asia Minor, even -- Galatia was named after them) in a long process in two waves (I think) around 800-300 BC, so they were well established in the UK by the time of Jesus. The reason we don't know much about the Picts is that we can't decipher their writing, but it seems increasingly likely that they were Celts of one sort or another. In any event, given the nature of these things, the lady in question probably shares quite a bit of DNA with her descendents, whatever the colour of their hair or the language they speak.

I am from Italy. I was born and grew up there. There is a town called Limone, in which indigenous people there are free of cancer, heart disease, and obesity. It is no wonder since the mainstay of their diet comes from naturally raised lamb, rabbit, chicken, and beef. More importantly, they eat Roma tomatoes by the ton. Lycopene, an enzyme found in Roma tomatoes, is a powerful anti-oxidant, anti-cancer, and anti-carcinogen is said to be the main reason as to why these people flourish so well. Olive oil consumed with tomatoes and a basil leaf (a delicacy mind you), increases plasma absorption of lycopene. Seems to me our technology has lead us to our own destruction.