Fornvännen’s Winter Issue On-line

Issue 2014:4 is now on-line on Open Access.

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Otto Blehr didn't seem to consider ambush hunting. And communal hunting during the 'stone age' could have been difficult because hunter-gatherers tended to live in rather small groups - or at least, that's an assumption I'm making about these HGs.

Kangaroos are as wary as any ungulates, and impossible to run down once they take flight, unless you can run at 40 miles per hour for a sustained period, including leaping over large obstacles. Aboriginal men hunting alone or in pairs hunt them very successfully with spear and spear thrower, by stalking very skilfully, and without a lot of vegetation cover to make them invisible. A spear has more knock-down power than an arrow, but a bow and arrow in the hands of a skilled bowman is surely more accurate.

I get the noise problem with crunchy snow. I'm thinking more about during the snow-free periods. I think he might be underestimating the ability of hunters to stalk elk and deer to get to within range where arrows or spears would be effective. And the rock art could have been a guide to ambush hunters: "Elk are known to pass this way."

Just thoughts. Moderns are not always as skilled and as smart, let alone smarter, than 'stone age' people.

By John Massey (not verified) on 18 Jun 2015 #permalink