Ray Audette said:

>>Obviously you never felt the need to wear a batting helmet while playing
baseball ( which explains a lot - I couldn't resist;)).  A baseball
can
easily kill a full grown man.  A rock of similar weight would fly even
faster being much smaller and thus be even deadlier.

>>Many people kill large animals without dogs using spears alone ( i.e.. Tutsi
warriors who want to become eligible to marry by killing a lion).  A
few
well placed rocks first makes the whole thing easier.

>From what I have read, earlier man may have dug out pit traps, covered with
brush, then driven large animals---deer, antelope, horses, moose,
bison,
etc.--- toward these traps.  One large animal falling into such a trap
could
make food for many people.  Techniques for making these traps,
frightening
the animals, and causin them to run in the desired direction of the
traps
could have been perfected in short order.  Techniques for drying meat
could
also have been used---both are described in Jean M. Auel's books.
Auel also
describes the use of a sling and stones to expertly bring down hyenas,
weasels, wolverines, and a wide array of small animals, and even
wolves.

I don't doubt that man living by the sea or lakes would have caught a
lot of
fish with bare hands, sticks, branches, and later baskets or traps
made from
various plants.  Accounts from just 100 years ago in Ohio attest to
the
incredible abundance of fish----lakes, rivers, and streams teaming
with
fish, so thick with fish that they were body to body and you could
reach in
with your bare hands and take some out!!!  This old book from  1900 in
Ohio
speaks of a simlar abundance of birds and other small animals; it
lists the
amounts people often brought in in a day (with technology, but my
point is
that there was no shortage of animals to feast on!!).  If it was like
that
just 100 years ago, just think what it could have been like in America
before the human population reached what it did in 1900... then think
what
it could have been like when animals out-numbered humans.

The more animals, the easier they are to procure and the more margin
for
error when you are tying to down them with a rock or a sharp stick, or
you
are trying to chase them toward a pit trap.

Thought for food,

Rachel Matesz

Rachel Matesz