Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Around the Campfire => Topic started by: billy on June 20, 2010, 10:23:07 pm
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It drives me absolutely crazy when I see "cavemen" on TV wearing shreds of animals skins as though they are rags. And their speech is nothing more than grunts and growls. I found an article online that I wanted to share with anyone who thinks early human ancestors were dumb brutes.
http://reinep.wordpress.com/2010/04/07/400000-year-old-spears-found-in-an-german-coal-mine/
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Just wanted to add that these spears were created by a people who understood ballistics....objects in flight. And they knew that balance was the key to getting these weapons to always land point-first. These spears were made so the forward 1/3 contained the majority of weight, which is just how modern javelins are balanced. And these cavemen were able to figure this out almost half a million years ago!
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Good article. Thanks!
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Awesome article. I liked it. Thanks for posting it! :)
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Compared to the time humans have existed overall, the "modern era" is the blink of an eye. Agriculture has got a loooooooooonnnng way to go before it can even nip at the heels of hunting as far as age goes.
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Billy,
I've had a gut feeling for a long time now that so called "Primitive" man was actually MUCH smarter, in thier own way, than us "Moderns". Thay ate clean food, drank clean water,and excersized daily,,,, chasin food, no doubt ;D I believe we as a people have lost much and even the most primative of heart can only strive for the connections our ancestors enjoyed. as seen on someones signature here on PA, "Progress was a fine thing, but it's gone on far too long." Gotta love that,,, ;)
"bowstring"
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I never thought that "PRIMITIVE" man was stupid heck I think they were smarter then most modern humans take notice to most. Cause if you ask a "modern" human to build you something like this they will not be able to yet you ask some from 500,000 years ago they can make one obviously. But they did have communication well "cavemen" I think Neanderthal did to but I can't remember.They also had war with each other during the start of an ice age the Neanderthals had pointed heads and shorter stockier while "caveman or "us" well looked like us.
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Great article, thanks for posting.
Some of you may have read recently that Neanderthals cross-bred with humans. People with fair skin, freckles, and red hair are more likely to have Neanderthal ancestry, the ginger gene, I think I read about recently. http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18869-neanderthal-genome-reveals-interbreeding-with-humans.html According to this article, anyone with ancestors outside of Africa likely has Neanderthals in the family tree.
Not as ancient, but highly cool, is the recent ancient shoe find. This is the oldest known leather shoe. I plan to try replicating it soon.
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/60099/title/Ancient_shoe_steps_out_of_cave_and_into_limelight
Dane
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I never believed the dumb brute crap anyway. We are their descendants, and if not for their intelligence and ability to adapt, we would not be here enjoying modern luxuries.
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uh oh, if dane is correct, i really am a cave man! no wonder im always trying to get back to my roots( bows and atlatls..)
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It is all relative. They were very ignorant with some things we view simple just as we are very ignorant to many things they thought simple.
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uh oh, if dane is correct, i really am a cave man! no wonder im always trying to get back to my roots( bows and atlatls..)
Think about it....no mortgage payments on a cave, and no yard work as well. Cave men were brighter than we can imagine.
If you want to disturb people subtely, try walking but swing your arms to they match your legs....right arm with right leg, left arm with left leg. We normally walk alternating. It looks odd. Try it.
Dane
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Imagine how our conversations at work in this era translate to the Paleolithic era:
"Hey, Torg, another Monday, huh? Hey, did you see the spear-throwing playoffs yesterday?"
"Nahhhh....the wife needed me to help her hang some mammoth hide curtains over the front of our cave. I mean, what am I gonna say? It looks nice, it doesn't look nice...whadda I care? I just wanted to go watch the playoffs. Oh, well, whaddaya gonna do? If she ain't happy, we ain't happy."
"Yeah...., hey, so Grok is our new hunt leader. Thol just promoted him. How about that?"
"Yeah, how about that, great. It figures, the little brownnoser. 'Oh, Thol, those new mammoth hide boots you're wearing look great on you! Oh, Thol, that new spear you made is awesome!' BARF!! See, that's what I mean! The little brat sucks up and gets promoted. He's been hunting, what, two years now? Whatve we got, we been out there 6 years now! Don't see us leading hunts. For Nature Spirits' sake, Grok doesn't know enough to pour pee out of his own moccasin if there were cave paintings on the heel showing how. I think I'm going to call in sick tomorrow, maybe grab some fishing spears and go down to the lake. Wanna come?"
"I wish I could, but I can't afford to miss that deer hunt. I need the pelt to trade for this mammoth ivory necklace my wife has her eye on. Yeah, you know the one that the shaman has sitting on the trade pelt. Like you said, if she ain't happy, we ain't happy."
"Yeah, well, whaddya gonna do? Let's go ahead and show our faces before Ol' Brownnose docks us a couple pounds of meat for being late for the hunt..."
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If you really want proof check out these cave paintings.
http://www.lascaux.culture.fr/index.php?lng=en#/fr/00.xml
Go all the way to the left of screen and click on the British flag for English
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBfIoJn5xgk
This is a link to a PBS show called The Human Spark, and narrarated by Alan Alda. Look around and watch all the episodes. I found it well worth the time, particularly the excavation parts of a Neanderthal shelter and a section on the atlatl.
Dane
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the guy talking says like Captain "Hawkeye" Pierce from M*A*S*H
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Pagan, it is because it is. It is Alan Alda narrating...... ;)
Wayne
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there is no such thing as a caveman, just men who may have lived in caves. there has never been any proof either
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I am sure that just like our more modern ancestors, the prehistoric person took what shelter, appealed to him, when and where available. I am sure that they made some form of shelter, and not just hunkered down in the elements, if there was not a cave available. There were only so many caves available. Even the great apes make a nest, so it is not too far fetched to "assume" a human being who was capable of making tools, and hunting, and fire making, could at least make a rudimentary shelter. I mean who knows how long man has been making thatched huts, wigwams, tipi's, etc. All evidence is long gone. Here in Fla. when I was in Jr. High School, a Friend of mine showed me a find he found, across the road from the dairy he lived on. We found bleached stone flakes, fossilized fish bones, and he had some arrow heads,he also showed me where he had dug down about three feet, and found cypress pole remnants, in a semi circle, and not just one set, but several. Like a village. There is a large lake nearby. Unfortunately, the area was soon bulldozed over, and a housing development went in. Ah, such is progress. But I too, get very upset with the History Channel, or other programs, that depict a band of paleolithic people with crooked sticks, and chunks of rock wrapped on the end with big strips of leather. Oh yeah, that is what our ancestors used to survive, and to eventually become "us", the modern, "Intelligent" being. Uh huh, yep.......that's how it all happened. ::) I just wished when they did a program like that they would get the "artistic licensing guy" out of there, and just get someone who is knowledgeable about stone tools, Straightening spear, atlatal, and arrow shafts, etc. and making of primitive clothing. The American Indian, was an expert at carpentry, and joinery. There are Bonnet boxes made of wood, that were fitted together, and sewn, or wrapped. But the fitting looked like it was made with modern tools, instead of the stone adz, notched blade, and beaver tooth knives. Labor intensive, and time consuming, but the Indian, didn't have a time schedule. Yeah, the prehistoric man wasn't as smart, or adaptable as modern man......in a lot of ways he was smarter. Simple logic. You were responsible for your own actions, you either learned from your mistakes, or you didn't make it after the second one. Note to self, don't use a rock on a saber tooth, use a spear! Of course that is how some people believe that Vegetarians got started......those that couldn't throw a big rock well, or make a decent spear. ;D Anywho, it seems that very few if any programs, are interested in actual facts, but more interested in conjectured artistic fantasies. :(
Wayne