I think this was the point that I was trying to make in my own email,
rather than assert that people were "optimizing" later. However, it appears
that there are many regions in the Southeast where, until the advent of
South Asian cattle breeds, maintaining healthy herds of Bos taurus was very
difficult. I know less about sheep of the wooly variety, since in East
Africa the humid lowlands (as opposed to the dry) are prime sheep country
-- but shorthaired, fat-tailed varieties). Thus, not so much "optimizing"
as giving up the struggle?
 
Diane Gifford-Gonzalez
 
>Righto, Matthew! (How ya been). In addition they should remember the
>French-derived term for Brits: Beefeaters!
>
>Dan Mouer
>
>On Tue, 22 Apr 1997, M H Johnson wrote:
>
>> Anyone who doubts an 18th century English cultural preference for beef,
>> and its linkages to issues of national identity, should check out Wiliam
>> Hogarth's painting The Roast Beef of Old England, which says more on the
>> subject than most volumes.
>>
>> Dr Matthew H Johnson
>> Dept of Archaeology
>> University of Durham
>> South Road
>> Durham DH1 3LE
>> U.K.
>> Tel 0191 374 4755
>> Fax 0191 374 3619
>>
 
 
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Diane Gifford-Gonzalez                                 [log in to unmask]
Professor, Anthropology                                408-459-5900 fax
Curator, Archaeology Archives                          408-459-3366 message
                           Department of Anthropology
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                           University of California
                           Santa Cruz CA 95064 USA
 
Visit our Laboratory Web Site: http://zzyx.ucsc.edu/~jjosh/lab.html
 
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