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Outdoor BBQ: A 700,000-year-old Ritual

news.yahoo.com — As we all stand around waiting for the fire to die down so that we can make s'mores, it's also a time to ponder the notion that the barbecue is a ritual 700,000 years old or more, and it might have something to do with our big brains.

Bury
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  • alapoet, on 07/03/2008, -11/+3Ugh! Pass meat!

    [/caveman talk]
  • Revolutionista, on 07/05/2008, -1/+27"We just hunted down a gigantic land mammal. Let's set it on fire."
  • fuckingusername, on 07/05/2008, -10/+2 you mean they had fire when they didn't have a lighter, OMG
    Digg front page crap is getting lame, feel like I'm reading the National Enquirer
  • 1randomguyO8, on 07/05/2008, -2/+14Oh really so they didnt cook inside the kitchen 700000 years ago?
    • Falldog, on 07/05/2008, -0/+8We only invented inside 600000 years ago.
    • onux16, on 07/05/2008, -0/+1Don't tell that to my girlfriend. I've been using the excuse "Woman stays in the kitchen while man hunts; it's our primal instinct!"
  • holmesfour, on 07/05/2008, -10/+5How is this news? We discussed this in my World History to 1500 course 4 years ago.
  • peticsu, on 07/05/2008, -10/+4how long till some religious nut calls out yahoo or live-science for thinking the earth is not 6000 years old?
    • schnikies79, on 07/05/2008, -1/+10How long till someone gets on digg and complains about something that hasn't even happened yet?
  • STPZ, on 07/05/2008, -3/+7FIRE!
    • RoflCoptah, on 07/06/2008, -0/+2quick, someone get that guy covered in BBQ sauce!
  • jamesweston, on 07/05/2008, -4/+11Pics or it didn't happen
  • poidh, on 07/05/2008, -0/+11You get more energy from cooked meat, so cooking meat was an evolutionary advantage. Another advantage was of course that the cooking got rid of microbes, hence was healthier.
    • cheezintern, on 07/05/2008, -0/+15...and then some one decided to add some lettuce, a tomato, few pickles, ketchup and mustard, and stick it all between a bun. Things really took off from there.
      • poidh, on 07/05/2008, -1/+8Lol. If only our ancestors had had access to burgers. They might have invented TVs and bowling alot sooner.
  • spepin, on 07/05/2008, -2/+4I wonder if our ancestors got ripped and played guitars by fires, too?
    • MixMastaKooz, on 07/05/2008, -0/+2Actually: yes they did, sort of. Fermented fruit (tasted like crap, but some fruits will have a bit of alcohol content in them after sitting on the ground for extended periods of time) and some hollow logs that are great for hitting/beating are the basis for many primitive parties!
  • DentThat, on 07/05/2008, -0/+4Of course its common knowledge but the fact that they put it that way makes it interesting to ponder about. How when we have outdoor barbecues, we are going back to our ancestral roots
  • Falldog, on 07/05/2008, -3/+2I think that grilling is a more appropriate term to use here. Where I come from simply cooking meet over a fire is grilling, while barbecuing is a lot more involved.
    • Modulo, on 07/05/2008, -0/+3it's so obviously a july 4th themed article that even a Canadian such as myself can notice.
  • SuperJimmyJimbo, on 07/05/2008, -0/+5there's always money in the banana stand..
  • DangerCollie, on 07/05/2008, -4/+2I live in the bbq capital of the world and can promise you there's no correlation between cooking meat over fire and brain size. If anything there's an inverse relationship.
  • laguano, on 07/05/2008, -2/+0Dangit, its going to take a while for indoor bbq to get that far.
  • zkirill, on 07/05/2008, -1/+9Take that, vegetarians!
  • Skab, on 07/05/2008, -0/+4"Around 2.5 million years ago, meat became a big deal." Go on......
  • snookky, on 07/05/2008, -2/+5ha, stickin it to the vegans!
  • Darkaged, on 07/05/2008, -6/+3Buried as inaccurate, the Earth is only 4,000 years old.
    • muniak, on 07/05/2008, -0/+7Buried, it's 6000 years old.
    • Vessol, on 07/06/2008, -1/+3Buried, it's 18 years old. Didn't exist until I was born. :)
  • rmeddy, on 07/05/2008, -1/+17OMGWTFBBQ
  • atact88, on 07/05/2008, -1/+2I was under the impression that human beings - i.e. ***** sapiens - evolved around 250,000 years ago. Yet the author talks about tools from 2.5 million years ago and fire 700,000 years ago. No doubt an ancestor to humans may have used those - but she still implies that humans did all those things 2.5 million years ago? Unless she just can't count zeros
    • Vessol, on 07/06/2008, -0/+1The time is debated, I believe the time of the rise of ***** sapiens is between 250,000-400,000 BCE.
      Could be wrong though.
  • TargetDog, on 07/05/2008, -0/+3I would gladly pay to see a video of Rachael Ray teaching the cavemen to make 30 minute meals 700,000 years ago.
  • speel, on 07/05/2008, -0/+2not for ripping apart HUNKS of flesh.
  • nutsackorama, on 07/06/2008, -2/+1I thought god created the earth just like 7000 years ago? What the hell?
  • applepro, on 07/06/2008, -0/+3Breathing: A 200,000,000-year-old Ritual
  • NecroSexy, on 07/06/2008, -1/+1The segway creator is a genius inventor?! WTF
  • Zippo, on 07/06/2008, -0/+3MEAT! MEEEEAAAT!!
  • Walled, on 07/06/2008, -2/+1OMGWTFBBQ...never mind digg me down
  • jwbales, on 07/06/2008, -0/+1The writer of this article missed the obvious fact that cooked meat lasts longer than raw meat. Cooking was an early form of food preservation. If it's jerked and dried over a smoky fire, meat will last quite a long time.
  • Jersey2FL, on 07/06/2008, -0/+1Umm, HELLO the world is only about 6,000 years-old.
    Created by the christian god and five unicorns.
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