Small prey compelled prehistoric humans to produce appropriate hunting weapons
1–10 of 50 posts
Re: Small prey compelled prehistoric humans to produce appropriate hunting weapons
#2> A new study from the Department of Archaeology at Tel Aviv University found that the extinction of large prey, upon which human nutrition had been based ...
We ate them all.
https://ourworldindata.org/wild-mammal-decline
A global population half the size of London contributed to many of the world’s largest mammals to extinction. The per capita impact of our hunter-gatherer ancestors was huge. ... Trace the footsteps of these tiny populations of the past and you will find extinction after extinction after extinction.
https://ourworldindata.org/quaternary-megafauna-extinction
Between 52,000 and 9,000 BCE, more than 178 species of the world’s largest mammals were killed off. These were mammals heavier than 44 kilograms, ranging from mammals the size of sheep to mammoths.
From the article:
"But one may well ask: Why did humans become smarter all of a sudden? What was the advantage of having a large brain that consumes so much energy? We demonstrate that these biological and cognitive changes correlate directly with the size of prey. To hunt small elusive animals humans had to become smarter, faster, more focused, more observant, and more collaborative. They had to develop new weapons for hunting from afar and learn how to track their prey."
Eating meat is often credited with boosting human intelligence, but it probably was the challenge of adapting to decreasing biodiversity and the need to hunt smarter that truly accelerated our cognitive development. Similarly, as we grapple with climate change and pivot towards plant-based diets, these new challenges may offer opportunities for our intelligence to evolve even further. ;)
Re: Small prey compelled prehistoric humans to produce appropriate hunting weapons
#3> “Ultimately, we hypothesized that prey size had played a major part in human evolution: at the beginning the largest animals were hunted, and when these were gone humans went on to the next in size, and so on. Finally, when hunting was no longer energetically viable, humans began to domesticate animals and plants. That's how the agricultural revolution began."
I had never considered this angle before. I always thought humans started agriculture to deal with scaling and the development of cities, but the idea that it was actually a scarcity pressure from decreased size of huntable game is a really interesting alternative.
Re: Small prey compelled prehistoric humans to produce appropriate hunting weapons
#4> A new study from the Department of Archaeology at Tel Aviv University found that the extinction of large prey, upon which human nutrition had been based ... We ate them all. https://ourworldindata.org/wild-mammal-decline A global population half the size of London contributed to many of the world’s largest mammals to extinction. The per capita impact of our hunter-gatherer ancestors was huge. ... Trace the footstep…
One of the interesting things for me about the hypothesis is that if humans had developed better food preservation techniques this outcome might have been different. Specifically a lot of large animals would rot before one could finish eating them so the rate of consumption was higher than strictly necessary. (not that early humans cared, but later humans developed a wide range of preservation methods due to scarcity pressures it seems).
Re: Small prey compelled prehistoric humans to produce appropriate hunting weapons
#5> A new study from the Department of Archaeology at Tel Aviv University found that the extinction of large prey, upon which human nutrition had been based ... We ate them all. https://ourworldindata.org/wild-mammal-decline A global population half the size of London contributed to many of the world’s largest mammals to extinction. The per capita impact of our hunter-gatherer ancestors was huge. ... Trace the footstep…
There is almost zero evolutionary pressure on the human species right now. We are probably backsliding.
Re: Small prey compelled prehistoric humans to produce appropriate hunting weapons
#6> A new study from the Department of Archaeology at Tel Aviv University found that the extinction of large prey, upon which human nutrition had been based ... We ate them all. https://ourworldindata.org/wild-mammal-decline A global population half the size of London contributed to many of the world’s largest mammals to extinction. The per capita impact of our hunter-gatherer ancestors was huge. ... Trace the footstep…
One of the interesting things for me about the hypothesis is that if humans had developed better food preservation techniques this outcome might have been different. Specifically a lot of large animals would rot before one could finish eating them so the rate of consumption was higher than strictly necessary. (not that early humans cared, but later humans developed a wide range of preservation methods due to scarcity…
I think more to be able to live in climates where hunting, foraging, or farming year-round was not possible.
Re: Small prey compelled prehistoric humans to produce appropriate hunting weapons
#7> A new study from the Department of Archaeology at Tel Aviv University found that the extinction of large prey, upon which human nutrition had been based ... We ate them all. https://ourworldindata.org/wild-mammal-decline A global population half the size of London contributed to many of the world’s largest mammals to extinction. The per capita impact of our hunter-gatherer ancestors was huge. ... Trace the footstep…
It's hard to understand how such a small population could have managed such an outsized ecological impact when we are several orders of magnitude more populace now.
Re: Small prey compelled prehistoric humans to produce appropriate hunting weapons
#8> A new study from the Department of Archaeology at Tel Aviv University found that the extinction of large prey, upon which human nutrition had been based ... We ate them all. https://ourworldindata.org/wild-mammal-decline A global population half the size of London contributed to many of the world’s largest mammals to extinction. The per capita impact of our hunter-gatherer ancestors was huge. ... Trace the footstep…
There is almost zero evolutionary pressure on the human species right now. We are probably backsliding.
There’s massive evolutionary pressure now that we’ve developed birth control.
Re: Small prey compelled prehistoric humans to produce appropriate hunting weapons
#9> A new study from the Department of Archaeology at Tel Aviv University found that the extinction of large prey, upon which human nutrition had been based ... We ate them all. https://ourworldindata.org/wild-mammal-decline A global population half the size of London contributed to many of the world’s largest mammals to extinction. The per capita impact of our hunter-gatherer ancestors was huge. ... Trace the footstep…
It's hard to understand how such a small population could have managed such an outsized ecological impact when we are several orders of magnitude more populace now.
During the ice age, the "world" was a lot smaller than it is today.
Re: Small prey compelled prehistoric humans to produce appropriate hunting weapons
#10"But one may well ask: Why did humans become smarter all of a sudden? What was the advantage of having a large brain ... To hunt small elusive animals humans had to become smarter, faster, more focused, more observant, and more collaborative."
So why didn't the big cats, larger insects, dogs/wolves, crocs n that, let alone bloody great 'awks 'n that etc become ... "smarter" for the same reasons?
"Just so" stories are lovely to read and so easy to digest and are just so much bollocks!
"And they had to choose their prey carefully, with preference for high fat content, to ensure a sufficient energetic return"
Total and utter bollocks: Predators pick off the easiest targets - sick, infirm or inattentive prey. There is absolutely no way they weight up calorific value. You grab what you can and try to survive.
I suggest that any numpty writing an article/paper like this tries to kill their own next dinner to discover why things are the way they are ...