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Learning System
Foraging knowledge was transmitted through apprenticeship—young people learned by foraging with experienced gatherers, observing, asking questions, getting corrections when they erred. The learning was gradual, building from absolutely safe species to those requiring more careful identification.
No one gathered and ate unknown plant. The risk was too great, the consequences potentially fatal. The rule was: eat only what you can identify with certainty, or starve rather than risk poisoning.
Testing Protocol
If absolutely necessary to test unknown plant (in survival situation where starvation was alternative), the protocol was cautious: observe animals eating it, smell and taste tiny amount, wait for reaction, gradually increase quantity if no problems appeared. This was desperation measure, not normal practice.
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