Tag Archives: hunters

30,000 Years Ago: A Toolkit Reveals the Contents of Ancient Hunters’ Pouches

Posted on by
Reply

Collection of Stone Tools from Milovice IV Archaeological Site

Martin Novak

The discovered series of stone tools in the Czech Republic appears to belong to hunter-gatherers who roamed the area roughly 30,000 years ago. Among the 29 artifacts, which include blades and points used for hunting, skinning, and cutting wood, researchers gain rare insights into the daily lives of ancient hunters, as noted by Dominik Chlachula from the Chekoa Academy of Sciences in Brno.

The investigation began in 2009 when a village road collapsed in the Pavlovskövurky Mountains, revealing an old cellar. By 2021, archaeologists uncovered a deeper site known as Mirovice IV, which yielded charcoal dating back approximately 29,550-30,550 years. Here, researchers found horse and reindeer bones, along with a collection of stone tools that seemed to have been preserved in leather pouches over time, although the material has since decayed.

The tools exhibited significant wear, according to Chlachula. Most blades showed signs of extensive cutting, while several had holes near the handle. Some points displayed fractures or microscopic damage, indicating their use as spear or arrow tips.

Certain pieces appear to have been repurposed from older tools, hinting at the scarcity of quality stones or indicating that hunters aimed to conserve their resources, he adds.

Further examinations revealed that around two-thirds of the tools were made from glacial sediment stones originating from at least 130 kilometers away in the north, a considerable distance, particularly when traversing winding routes. The remaining tools seemed to come from western Slovakia, roughly 100 kilometers southeast. It’s still uncertain whether the owner procured the stones directly or through trade networks.

Many of the artifacts were too damaged to be usable, Chlachula explains. Nevertheless, hunters may have chosen to keep them for their sentimental value.

Neanderthals, Ancient Humans, Cave Art: France

Join new scientist Kate Douglas as she embarks on an enchanting voyage through time, exploring significant Neanderthal and Upper Paleolithic sites across southern France, from Bordeaux to Montpellier.

Topic:

Source: www.newscientist.com

Hunters and gatherers tend to have shorter sleep durations compared to industrialized individuals.

Posted on by
Reply

Members of the Namibian HIMBA community get an average of 5.5 hours of sleep at night

Nick Fox/Aramie

Unlike our ancestors who lived in technologically advanced times, there is much written about how modern lifestyles mean that we no longer get enough sleep. However, an analysis of 54 sleep studies conducted around the world has shown that people in small, non-industrial societies actually sleep less than people in industrialized communities.

“Everyone I talk about in Canada and the US are talking about how bad their sleep is.” Leela Mackinnon At Toronto Mississauga University, Canada. “The numbers don’t show that.”

It is often assumed that the rise of gadgets like big screen televisions and smartphones means that people today are less sleepy than in the recent past.

However, many studies reporting sleep declines over the past few decades are based on asking people how long they spend sleep. This is an unreliable measure. Even using this method, The results are mixedmany studies have found that there is no change or even an increase in sleep duration.

Studies based on more reliable measurements, such as using physical activity monitors and electrodes to monitor brain waves, have not declined over the last few decades. For example, we found a 2016 review of 168 studies. There is no decline Sleep period for the past 50 years.

However, these studies have been conducted in developed countries and reveal the question of whether people had more sleep before industrialisation. Wrist-based activity monitors are now available, making it easier to study sleep in a non-industrial society.

Such studies have revealed an incredible short period of sleep. For example, among hunter-gatherers, Sun sleeps on average 6.7 hours per night, Hatza sleeps 6.2 hours, and Bayaka sleeps 5.9 hours per night. The shortest time ever found is 5.5 hours of sleep in the HIMBA community in Namibia, a herdsman of nomadic livestock.

McKinnon and her colleagues David SamsonUniversity of Toronto, University of Mississauga, is also involved in several such research. They now compare sleep habits in industrialized societies, including the US, Australia and Sri Lanka, with people from small, non-industrial communities, including the Amazon, Madagascar and the Pacific indigenous people.

Overall, the analysis is based on 54 studies that include direct measures of sleep in people over 18 years of age without serious health conditions. In total, only 866 people are involved in these studies, but the dataset is the most comprehensive to date, says Samson. “It’s the best now.”

Overall, these individuals slept on average 6.8 hours, while in non-industrial societies the average was 6.4 hours, while in industrial societies it was 7.1 hours.

The two also found that people from the industrial world were asleep for 74% of their time in bed.

McKinnon and Samson also evaluated the regularity of people’s circadian rhythms using a measure called the circadian function index, where the score of 1 is perfect. In non-industrialized communities, the average was 0.7 compared to 0.63 in industrial societies.

Samson attributes the higher period of sleep and increased sleep efficiency in industrialized societies to conditions that encourage sleep more. “We see that we have some real benefits from the safety and security of our sleep scene,” he says. “There’s no need to dodge the night or predators with rival human groups.”

Conversely, people in industrial areas are less exposed to clues that help to maintain a circadian rhythm, such as low night temperatures and bright daylight exposure. Although they did not appreciate this, both MacKinnon and Samson said that a low normal circadian rhythm would have a negative effect explaining why many people perceive their sleep as poor. I doubt there is a possibility of giving it.

What is not clear from the paper says that individuals in these 54 studies are representatives of the overall population. Nathaniel Marshall At Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. “Special sampling is required to make a statement about epidemiological prevalence,” he says.

Samson said he looked into whether large sample sizes could change results, and concluded that there was no significant difference.

topic:

Source: www.newscientist.com

New Study Seeks to Rewrite History by Highlighting Women as Hunters

Posted on by
Reply

A new study reveals that prehistoric women not only participated in hunting, but may have been physiologically suited for it. The study is based on physiological studies and archaeological evidence, highlighting women’s endurance and the lack of a strict division of labor in early societies. This study highlights the need to reevaluate long-standing prejudices about women’s abilities.

When Carla Okobock was a child, she often wondered about the images in movies, books, comics, and cartoons depicting prehistoric men and women. Accompanying her are a “man hunter” with a spear in his hand and a “female gatherer” with a spear. The baby was strapped to his back, and in his hand was a basket of crop seeds.

“This was something everyone was used to seeing,” Okobock said. “This is an assumption that we all had in our heads, and it was carried through at the Natural History Museum.”

Many years later, Ocobock, an assistant professor in the University of Notre Dame’s anthropology department and director of the Human Energetics Laboratory, realized that she was a human biologist, studying physiology and prehistoric evidence, and working with early women. I discovered that many of these notions about women are true. Men were less accurate. The accepted reconstruction of human evolution assumed that men were biologically superior, but that interpretation did not tell the whole story.

Source: scitechdaily.com