Early Meat Eating
the African savannahs, +/- 2 million years ago...
It was hot. He wiped the sweat out of his eyes. It was time for food and he was going to get it. Noises had come earlier from the far tree, and he was making his way there now. Slowly and carefully, so as not to surprise any predators into hunting him. A snarl reached him from the far tree...good, that meant there was still food from it.
He held his sharp stone in his hand. He took a step and then...
...a gazelle jumped in front of him. He froze, knowing that such activity meant the gazelle was being chased. She disappeared into the brush. A moment later a large cat ran by, chasing the gazelle. He waited...then followed the lion. Close by the sounds of the fatal encounter came to a squealing halt. Very slowly, he approached, making sure the wind was in his face. The fresh blood and meat reached his nostrils and he inhaled slowly. It was too much.
Bending down and picking up a fist-sized rock, he then charged into the cat's feast, screaming at the top of his lungs.
As the snarling cat turned to face him, he lobbed the rock into its face. With a bitter scream the cat retreated a few feet, snarling as it did so.
He grabbed the warm gazelle, and the cat began to follow. Screaming back at the cat he saw one of the legs was almost off, thanks to the cats teeth. Quickly he ripped it off and tossed it at the approaching cat.
He lifted the remains of the gazelle onto his shoulders and ran for his life back to the others. Blood running into his eyes was so much better than sweat, he thought.
I write rather quickly, correcting my errors as I go. The result isn't always fantastic. My big problem with writing this, is that of course a Homo Erectus wouldn't think, talk, or otherwise communicate in English, or even in the fully formed and reasoned sentences we do. Hence, what follows is solely my interpretation of the same story, totally in the character's linguistic/communicative/thinking perspective...
Hot. Eyes sting. Hungry, hungry. Far tree food noise...food noise. Step slow, slow.
FREEZE! Close food noise...slow slow step. Danger...hungry hungry. DANGER! Throw! Danger...food, hungry. Danger..hungry...danger food. Step fast fast! Hungry Hungry!
Food.. eyes sting.
Friday, May 31, 2013
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Neanderthal-Homo Sapians Love Child?
http://news.discovery.com/human/evolution/neanderthal
Fascinating subject matter. What follows is just an idea of what may have happened....
...in a forested valley, in what is now Italy...=/-40,000 years ago...
Kuti was unhappy. He wanted to mate, but the clan had rejected him. Every time he approached a female in his clan they yelled at him and threw rocks to discourage him. The men didn't like him either. On the last two hunts his spear had not only missed, it had hit Dirok, the son of the Leader. Dirok had lived, but now walked slowly and breathed loudly. The Leader had hit Kuti's head so hard he now couldn't hear on that side. He ate last, even after the old ones and small girls.
Today Kuti was wandering through the forest, in hopes of finding some food. He had found a few berries, but not enough for his growling belly and certainly not enough to take back to the clan.
His sense of frustration grew. On the ground was a rock and he picked it up and threw it with a an anguished grunt. To his surprise he heard a scream. Scrambling through the brush he found one of the Others. His rock had hit her on the leg, leaving it cut and bruised.
But Kuti didn't concern himself with that. This Other was a female and not going anywhere. She was ugly, as the Others were. Big forehead, short bushy hair, stocky. The females in Kuti's clan were slender and had long flowing hair which he liked. Now though, he felt the urge to mate. Roughly he pushed the Other female back and mated her. At first she screamed, but then quieted down. After he was done he looked at her leg. He motioned for her to stay and went to find some moss. Gently he ground the moss in his hand and rubbed where his stone had hit her.
"Kuti" he said, pointing to himself.
"Kuuii" she repeated back. "Taa" she hit herself in the chest gently.
Kuti met with Taa twice more, and then she disappeared.
Nine moons later Taa woke up with pain in her belly. Grunting and screaming, she gave birth to a child. This child was different and her clan rejected both her and the child. They survived in the forest for awhile, then Taa died of starvation. The child cried and yelled, but Taa didn't move and she cried for a long time. She finally crawled to the rock where they had slept, and fell asleep, never waking up again.
Fascinating subject matter. What follows is just an idea of what may have happened....
...in a forested valley, in what is now Italy...=/-40,000 years ago...
Kuti was unhappy. He wanted to mate, but the clan had rejected him. Every time he approached a female in his clan they yelled at him and threw rocks to discourage him. The men didn't like him either. On the last two hunts his spear had not only missed, it had hit Dirok, the son of the Leader. Dirok had lived, but now walked slowly and breathed loudly. The Leader had hit Kuti's head so hard he now couldn't hear on that side. He ate last, even after the old ones and small girls.
Today Kuti was wandering through the forest, in hopes of finding some food. He had found a few berries, but not enough for his growling belly and certainly not enough to take back to the clan.
His sense of frustration grew. On the ground was a rock and he picked it up and threw it with a an anguished grunt. To his surprise he heard a scream. Scrambling through the brush he found one of the Others. His rock had hit her on the leg, leaving it cut and bruised.
But Kuti didn't concern himself with that. This Other was a female and not going anywhere. She was ugly, as the Others were. Big forehead, short bushy hair, stocky. The females in Kuti's clan were slender and had long flowing hair which he liked. Now though, he felt the urge to mate. Roughly he pushed the Other female back and mated her. At first she screamed, but then quieted down. After he was done he looked at her leg. He motioned for her to stay and went to find some moss. Gently he ground the moss in his hand and rubbed where his stone had hit her.
"Kuti" he said, pointing to himself.
"Kuuii" she repeated back. "Taa" she hit herself in the chest gently.
Kuti met with Taa twice more, and then she disappeared.
Nine moons later Taa woke up with pain in her belly. Grunting and screaming, she gave birth to a child. This child was different and her clan rejected both her and the child. They survived in the forest for awhile, then Taa died of starvation. The child cried and yelled, but Taa didn't move and she cried for a long time. She finally crawled to the rock where they had slept, and fell asleep, never waking up again.
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Welcome to Ancient Agendas
Hello! Welcome to Ancient Agendas. First of all, I want to say here that I am absolutely NOT a scientist. Of any sort. As much as I like Anthropology, Archeology, Paleontology, and Linguistics, I just cannot get into a logical mindset about any of them. When I see a headline about the possibility of Neanderthal art, or charred bones that proved ancient hominids were cooking long before agriculture, my very intelligent response is "Wow, keeewwwwlll..."
And so, lacking any formal education in any of the above fields of study, and never having worked on a dig, I am anyway and anyhow going to blog. As in the description, which says in full, "..A non-scientific blog about our ancestors, and what they did, or might have done", my blogging intention here is to take that "Wow, keeewwwwlll..." and turn it into something that is hopefully entertaining, thought-provoking, original, and even plausible.
Comments here or to auraburrows@gmail.com are welcome. And may I say here, again reminding my readers this is non-scientific, if I occasionally put a bow and arrow into the arms of a Neanderthal, or have homo habilis cooking in ceramic pots, well, the error is unintentional...except for the 2 previously mentioned, those are intentional. If one is completely new to the world of prehistory, then realize I've just given cell-phones to the ancient Greeks.
Enjoy.
And so, lacking any formal education in any of the above fields of study, and never having worked on a dig, I am anyway and anyhow going to blog. As in the description, which says in full, "..A non-scientific blog about our ancestors, and what they did, or might have done", my blogging intention here is to take that "Wow, keeewwwwlll..." and turn it into something that is hopefully entertaining, thought-provoking, original, and even plausible.
Comments here or to auraburrows@gmail.com are welcome. And may I say here, again reminding my readers this is non-scientific, if I occasionally put a bow and arrow into the arms of a Neanderthal, or have homo habilis cooking in ceramic pots, well, the error is unintentional...except for the 2 previously mentioned, those are intentional. If one is completely new to the world of prehistory, then realize I've just given cell-phones to the ancient Greeks.
Enjoy.
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