Date: Thu, 11 Apr 96 09:39:10 GMT
Subject: Re: Why and how hunting?



> ii) Why is it that men hunt big game ?
> a) Do they ? The stone tools required to butcher a big carcass are
> likely to survive in the archeological record. The wooden ones
> required to kill and eat a rabbit or a fish aren't.
> 
> Lisa: They do in many modern populations, although there is plentiful
> smaller game available.  And why distinguish between the materials
> tools are made of according to size of kill?  I'm not familiar with
> that idea.

It's been assimilated into my subconscious from "Self Made Man" , the
name of whose author I can never remember. You may use stone tools
to kill a fish or rabbit. But I think you have to to cut up a 
rhinoceros. But his main point was that the archeological record gives
us a skewed idea of hominids / humans technology, that's all.

> [When I say "men" I mean male humans, not "humankind".]  

That's what I understood by it.

> 
> b) Given that they do, it may be because humans actually have little
> competition at the very top of the food chain. For instance, when
> humans arrived in New Zealand, they went on a massive meat fest,
> since there were literally no other predators at the top of the food
> chain.
> 
> Lisa:  How do you see the connection with the lack of other predators
> here?  How would that affect human behavior?  
> 

Humans, by using technology and combining together socially, found a
way of preying on the animals at the very top of the food chain. How
many other animals even have the option of eating adult lion, elephant or
giraffe meat ?

Big brains, small jaw bones etc are costly in terms of energy consumption.
This could only be supported by meat consumption and cooking, at least
before the development of agriculture, which presupposed millions of years
of evolution.

Those ( groups of ! ) hominids / humans which developed bigger brains
( and therefore smaller jaws ) , more manual dexterity, more social
cohesion, would be more successful in harvesting this concentrated supply
of energy.

[ This dynamic is almost the opposite of the dynamic amongst other animals,
where they need strength, speed and big jaws to prey on such animals. And
even lions don't eat adult elephants ie the human route is more successful
in terms of evolution as a predator ].

This advance would open up more resources for potential exploitation. The
bigger brain and better dexterity would mean that not only could you catch
rabbits, but you also can find a way to catch hares. You may also discover
of way of digging up and cooking some interesting root or other.

Adam.

Adam Rose
SWP
Manchester
UK


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