considering our evolving

BTW, my passion is evolution as well, especially Paleoanthropology. They keep pushing our origins farther and farther back. Right now it's 6.7 million ya and counting!
Very cool. This morning for distraction I watched a new, for me, documentary. Doesn't go back that far, only many centuries, still those were interesting times. It did a very nice overview of the various lines of evidence for early peoples reaching America from different directions. This one was special in that so many of those shows go over board on this theory or that theory and all the dramatizing false emphasis - But this was interesting and sober even with it's obligatory touch of narrative glitz. The documentary remained firmly grounded in solid evidence and never strays into pushing anyone ideas. It was a joy to watch. Who Really Discovered America? (Real History Documentary) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qjlc36Dv0rw At about 30:00 the Polynesians perhaps reaching Chile and California, that was extra interesting. Makes sense to me. My surprise. :wow: The realization that birds were flying between the islands and served as "guides" for early voyagers, "follow that flock…" - Seems so obvious, why hadn't I considered that before, :sick: A reminder, the learning and surprises never ends. ~~~~~~~~~~~ If you wanna talk Paleo-history, ironically, yesterday I had one of those cosmic giggles worth tossing in here. While doing some "landscaping restoration" work, I pulled up a broken a bone, looks to be the top of a humerus. The top of that nice big socket ball had the outside 1/2 sheared off. The bone was solid for the first inch, then broke open into a 3" V shaped break that ended in a sharp sharp tip and cutting edge. The marrow was all cleaned out and the bone fairly clean. Now what struck me when I picked it up was how naturally it fit right into my hand. With the ball socket fitting neatly in my palm and my fingers and thumb grasping the shaft. It was one of those touching eternity moments. A primal moment… if I didn't know anything and that piece of broken bone fell into my hands - I would still realize this thing was special and I would start playing with it. Scratching and digging, if I had a rabbit carcass I'da been sawing away, with that growing appreciation that this was going to be something special and useful. {I've seen the same thing with split bird bones that beg to be used for poking holes and boring. And naturally cleaved stones too.} With time it would wear down and the time would come to find another, or figure out how to copy it. It's so easy to visualize how it could have gone down way back when. Nature teaches many lessons to the attentive. Even thinking about original buildings and the inspirations for new building styles. I've seen many examples of limestone formations all over that look like masonry walls. {Even various tree falls. scream shelter structure} Perfect inspirations for the restless curious dreamer to try a little DIY and impress the babes back home. Such rock formations even provide neat building blocks for the hauling and so on and so forth. Observing, learning, repeating, learning, experiencing, learning. It's been an incredible journey ========================

Yeah, I saw that one a while back and even used other programs of that genre to teach paleoIndian History. Lots of “what if” scenerios to contemplate although not much evidence to date. There was one documentary though that intrigued me and it had to do with a cache of spear points found in Virginia made exactly the same way and configuration as in Europe. The archeologist speculated that paleo hunters from Europe followed the ice edge to America and hunted here over 20,000 ya. I’d like to find that one again; he presented a compelling argument. I love to artifact hunt as it ties you to the people who were once here and to the land which hasn’t changed a great deal in over 5,000 years. This area was occupied by Late paleo hunters up through white contact so pot shreds, arrow points, spear points and burial mounds are, or were everywhere. You can still kick up an arrow head in a freshly plowed field and my students used to bring them in by the handful. We even halted a few on shafts to show how it was done in my archeology class. Then we threw them at pretend Mammoth targets. Sometimes they even hit the target. if you really want a hoot CC get an Atlatl and try your hand. I can send information if you’re ever interested. The earliest one dates to 35,000 ya.
Cap’t Jack

if you really want a hoot CC get an Atlatl and try your hand. I can send information if you're ever interested. The earliest one dates to 35,000 ya. Cap't Jack
I've seen some videos on that, one did a great job of demonstrating the difference in impact between hand thrown and Atlatl thrown spears. Even hung up a pig carcass to make it realistic. Quite dramatic. And of course, I have experience with the atlatl ball chucker for crazy hyper-drive dogs, I could toss a ball outta the ballpark with that babe. What kind of information you got? I've actually always wondered how they achieved accuracy, but guess it's all in a good eye, flawless arm movement, a well timed release.

This is my favorite site for paleo technics; I’ve bought several items from them including an Atlatl and darts. The best are seven feet in length and I’ve easily hit targets at 50 yards. The experts can hit 100 yard targets and some actually hunt with them. I’m strictly a target shooter though. I gave up hunting ages ago. I now hunt at Kroger, endlessly. Anyway, they have reproduced darts with stone points knapped in the same fashion as paleo points. They’re accurate but damned expensive. Mine are shaft aluminum (you can see them on the site) and are easy to throw. It’s not hard to see how our ancestors decimated the bigger animals with these weapons. You ran little risk of being trampled by your much anticipated dinner. Also, this weapon appears to have been universal, it has been found in both hemispheres among human remains and I believe the earliest was found in France and dates to 35,000 ya.
http://www.occpaleo.com/atlatls.html
Cap’t Jack

I gave up hunting ages ago. I now hunt at Kroger, endlessly.
gotta admit, even out in the bush, I'll bet their hunting was 'endlessly' ;-P Thanks for the link, I'll check it out. :-)

Oh wow, that’s some amazing work… art… tool…

I thought you’d like it. They do some amazing work with wood and stone, a little pricey but a lot of that is labor. But it shows that we can still duplicate the tools our ancestors made for survival. BTW, there’s other links out there for Native art. I used to knap flint heads using the same paleo tools and with practice I could turn out a decent head in about an hour. The trick is in finding the right flint. I’m still keeping my hand in by reproducing wampum treaty belts.
Cap’t Jack