On Thu, 2 Jul 2009 19:34:49 -0400, Tracy Bradley <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>I came across this today quite by accident, but thought it was
>appropriate given the talk about man being a scavenger and not relying
>heavily on meat. Persistence hunting is thought to be the most ancient
>form of hunting - literally seperating an animal from the herd and
>pursuing it til it falls from exhaustion. You would not even require a
>spear to do this - a simple cutting tool to finish the animal off would
>suffice. Anyway, very cool stuff! Certainly food for thought - any
>primitive man, as long as he could sweat and carry water (or find water
>along the way, I supose?), could accomplish this.
>
>http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=FR&hl=fr&v=9wI-9RJi0Qo

Yes, Tracy, I came across that video myself some time ago. It's amazing that
some people still think that early humans could not have done much hunting,
given that Jane Goodall and others have witnessed and filmed chimps hunting
monkees without need of weapons, and given that there is evidence of
pre-homo-sapien hominins like Homo erectus having hunted the largest of
game, and given that the persistence hunt requires no weapons. All the San
hunters need is one fast man, carrying water, to run the animal down and two
men to trail behind so as to help carry the food back to the tribe. They
don't even need to carry the butchering tools, since they can use nearby
stones. Some of the choicest parts of the animal were probably eaten on the
spot by the hunters and the rest taken back.

One amazing thing about that video is the way in which the lead tracker
appears to become the animal he is tracking, even apparently imitating the
antlers with his fingers and knowing which way the animal went without
seeing it while running fairly quickly. It's no wonder that the hunt is
regarded as sacred by all hunter-gatherer peoples and is such a big part of
their spiritual traditions and rituals.