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we're wimps...
I was just listening to an article on the BBC World Service about the suspected intelligence of neanderthals vs. homo sapiens. The discussion lead to the technology used by both groups, and which was more efficient and ... well... gooder. The upshot is that neanderthals were probably just as smart as homo sapiens and disappeared for other reasons.
But that's not the part about us being wimps. One of the groups ( I forget which) had a tendency to use narrower bladed tools, which lend themselves to spear and arrow heads. That got me thinking about hunting.
These days, if a tough as nails, rugged, outdoorsy dude wants to kill an elephant, he goes on a safari on a game reservation with a Land Rover and tents and food and beds and good clothes and maps and sturdy boots and dry socks and stuff, and he carries a REALLY BIG GUN. You know, an elephant gun. For those who don't think about this stuff, an elephant gun shoots a bullet that's 2-3 times the diameter and 6-9 times the weight, and 5-6 times the energy of the bullet the US military thinks is sufficient to go through body armor. This isn't a "big gun", this is a gun that will go through cars and houses and planets. Big game hunters don't carry these guns because they're cool, or because they have a need to impress the homies on safari. They carry them because it's what it takes to get through the tough hide of an elephant or water buffalo or hippopotamus and kill it before it kills you.
Now, imagine doing that same thing without shoes, a good night's rest, proper nutrition, or an SUV to get you near the pray, and with spears tipped with pointy bits made from chipped flint. Oh yea, a mammoth is larger and tougher than an elephant, and if you don't succeed, you die.
In the olympics I saw some pretty amazing feats, but none of them even come close to what it would take to kill an elephant with home made tools.
But that's not the part about us being wimps. One of the groups ( I forget which) had a tendency to use narrower bladed tools, which lend themselves to spear and arrow heads. That got me thinking about hunting.
These days, if a tough as nails, rugged, outdoorsy dude wants to kill an elephant, he goes on a safari on a game reservation with a Land Rover and tents and food and beds and good clothes and maps and sturdy boots and dry socks and stuff, and he carries a REALLY BIG GUN. You know, an elephant gun. For those who don't think about this stuff, an elephant gun shoots a bullet that's 2-3 times the diameter and 6-9 times the weight, and 5-6 times the energy of the bullet the US military thinks is sufficient to go through body armor. This isn't a "big gun", this is a gun that will go through cars and houses and planets. Big game hunters don't carry these guns because they're cool, or because they have a need to impress the homies on safari. They carry them because it's what it takes to get through the tough hide of an elephant or water buffalo or hippopotamus and kill it before it kills you.
Now, imagine doing that same thing without shoes, a good night's rest, proper nutrition, or an SUV to get you near the pray, and with spears tipped with pointy bits made from chipped flint. Oh yea, a mammoth is larger and tougher than an elephant, and if you don't succeed, you die.
In the olympics I saw some pretty amazing feats, but none of them even come close to what it would take to kill an elephant with home made tools.