1) What about all those ancient, even prehistoric, images in caves of people killing/hunting mammoths, deer and other free roaming animals?
Some of these date way beyond the flood, since mammoths existed prior to the global flood of the Bible. It wasn't just for skin/fur and bones for tools. Meat was eaten.
2) Why then did Jehovah command Noah and his family to not eat blood with the flesh?
Genesis 9:3-4, And every thing that moveth and liveth shall be meat for you: even as the green herbs have I delivered them all to you: 4Saving that flesh with blood you shall not eat. (DRC)
Perhaps, they were already eating both blood and flesh. No one can show that they didn't already eat blood before the deluge or during the one year in the Arch; likewise, no one can show that they did. Except! There is no law without a reason! Those who disagree should try to answer the following: why did God make the Israelites divide animals into clean and unclean?For the sake of eating naturally. The division of clean and unclean animals that Noah obviously was aware of — had nothing to do with some animals being cleaner or dirtier than other animals – it was not because some animals took more baths than others.
The only explanation for the distinction Noah was aware of — is the motivation for eating them! Jehovah didn’t have to teach him which were clean or unclean when he spoke about that subject; Noah already knew this perhaps from prior personal or ancestor-given revelations. Why would he have need for such knowledge if he didn't eat meat?
3) But after Adam & Eve sinned, Bible readers know that God cursed the ground of the earth. In Gen 3:17-19, we see,
. . . cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; 18Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; 19In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. (KJV)
The garden of Eden diet included bread, "seed-bearing herb sowing seed", and "every tree which has in itself the fruit of seed." Once the ground had been cursed, it had an immediate effect on their diet. Human nature being what it is, the following question is natural: Is it then in accord with human nature to fight with a ground that doesn't produce food and for a person to go hungry when a fat chicken is within reach, perhaps walking right by? There is really no point to the question. It's simply against human nature not to go for such a chicken in best KFC style. The old Charlie Chaplin movie proved that point, when Charlie even started believing his friend was a chicken!
Alligator Wisdom (aka Brother NOT Exerting Vigorously by WTS standards)