How did our ancestors consume raw meat ?

[quiXilver]

I would bet they happened on burnt corpses from forest fires and ate those...

When fire was tamed, it was then applied to meat that was caught.

[flabbins]

Surely they could have cut it somehow and dried it out?? Its not rocket science

[SHaYap]

*fermentation*

~

Pit Of Fish Bones Is World's Earliest Evidence Of Fermentation

February 18, 2016 | by Janet Fang

Researchers studying thousands of fish bones excavated from a 9,200-year-old pit in Sweden have uncovered the world’s earliest evidence of food fermentation – and it’s accomplished without the use of salt. Modern methods of food fermentation typically require salt and enzymes to prevent spoilage and the growth of potentially harmful microbes. This ancient example of large-scale food storage, described in the Journal of Archaeological Science earlier this month, suggests Early Mesolithic Scandinavian societies were far more complex than researchers previously assumed.

People living in Europe during the Mesolithic period, which spanned 10,000 to 5,000 BC, hadn’t started farming yet, and researchers believed that foraging groups relying on fish and other prey moved around frequently to follow their food sources. In modern and historical circumpolar societies that rely on fish for sustenance (such as those living in Kamchatka), short fishing seasons and large catches meant that drying and smoking all the fish for that winter season wouldn’t be enough – most of the fish was conserved through fermentation in stone- and earth-covered holes in the ground. The lack of artifacts for this sort of long-term, large-scale storage in the Mesolithic was seen as evidence for mobile and less complex societies. But it turns out, Early Mesolithic foragers settled into a semi-sedentary life – and developed technological culture – a lot earlier than we thought.

• IFL Science link
  

[Zalmoxis]

Raw meat will also make us bellyache and get indigestion because our bodies aren't adapted well to digesting the bacteria in uncooked flesh.

Edited March 15, 2016 by Zalmoxis

[Blizno]

"...eat raw meat all the time..."

No, our ancestors probably had diets similar to other omnivores: mostly vegetation with the occasional treat of meat.

Homo Habilis is the first hominid to be found associated with simple stone tools. H. Habilis also had huge teeth and mighty jaws, dwarfing ours.

Homo erectus has been associated with fires. Their teeth and jaws were also much larger than ours.

Modern chimpanzees eat meat as often as they can drag down a victim. They hunt in organized groups. I've heard it suggested that chimps eat about the same proportion of meat to vegetation as modern-human hunter-gatherers. The big difference between chimp teeth and jaws and those of h. habilis is that habilis had small canine teeth compared to chimps. The other teeth and the jaws were similar to those of chimps. Huge canines are used as weapons. They're not helpful for chewing.

This story assumes that our ancestors who started eating meat had jaws and teeth like ours. That's not the case. Their teeth and jaws were huge.

[docyabut2]

We did have some sharp teeth, any one see that movie (The Good Dinosaur) that little guy really chopped away

Edited March 21, 2016 by docyabut2

[Sundew]

What about seafood? I've eaten raw fish, conch, oysters and so forth. It's not red meat, but it is animal protein and it's not difficult to tackle with human teeth. Except for the conch, which can be like rubber unless it's pounded throughly. And that's a good transition, a human using a rock to remove a limpet or an abalone by smashing it, and then figuring out that by beating it with a rock, it not only let you get the food, but tenderize it too. But humans could have transitioned between seafood and red meat, using methods practiced on seafood.

[Gingitsune]

Inuits have been eating raw stuff for millenia. Fishes, but also seal, birds, moose, reindeer, whales.

Here's an article:

http://discovermagazine.com/2004/oct/inuit-paradox

[CJ1983]

I've eaten raw meat, it's not that hard. My guess is the guy who wrote this didn't try very hard. You have to enjoy the feel and taste of raw fresh meat. I don't suggest large amounts to those who may be curious. I just like to take a couple bites from fresh hunting kills, depending on the animal anyway. Deer is best followed by bison.

[TheFightingHellkitties]

Where there's a will there's a way :3