I've read stories written by europeans hunting hippos in Africa 100 years ago and there's no way a hominid could do that. Not only hippos are extremely dangerous but when wounded they dive to the bottom of nearby waters. The hunters were using elephant rifles to kill them and buoys tied to harpoons to recover the carcasses. Hippo meat is apparently pretty tasty though.
"I’ve always been a believer that apparent revolutions in human development are always older than they appear - fire, hunting, tools, language and so on."
Yes, and there are good statistical reasons to back up your intuition:
“Given that Paranthropus is likely not a direct ancestor to modern humans, we can’t claim that meat and tool use were the reasons for our success.”
Necessary, but not sufficient conditions perhaps. Habitat adaptability through cooperation, moving from the ability to occupy varied niches to being able to create, and shift between, niches, is the basis of our success. Likely takes both tools and sufficiently energy-dense food so as to be worth cooperating for and not require spending hours and hours chewing.
Here just to say that I'm enjoying my tiny toe dip into the ancient world, as ever, through this blog. And to report that I enjoyed the Warfare in Neolithic Europe book that you recommended.
I've read stories written by europeans hunting hippos in Africa 100 years ago and there's no way a hominid could do that. Not only hippos are extremely dangerous but when wounded they dive to the bottom of nearby waters. The hunters were using elephant rifles to kill them and buoys tied to harpoons to recover the carcasses. Hippo meat is apparently pretty tasty though.
"I’ve always been a believer that apparent revolutions in human development are always older than they appear - fire, hunting, tools, language and so on."
Yes, and there are good statistical reasons to back up your intuition:
https://thingstoread.substack.com/p/the-past-was-more-than-you-think
“Given that Paranthropus is likely not a direct ancestor to modern humans, we can’t claim that meat and tool use were the reasons for our success.”
Necessary, but not sufficient conditions perhaps. Habitat adaptability through cooperation, moving from the ability to occupy varied niches to being able to create, and shift between, niches, is the basis of our success. Likely takes both tools and sufficiently energy-dense food so as to be worth cooperating for and not require spending hours and hours chewing.
Whatever was a available both growing and hunting. How about fish?
Here just to say that I'm enjoying my tiny toe dip into the ancient world, as ever, through this blog. And to report that I enjoyed the Warfare in Neolithic Europe book that you recommended.