Re: AAT reply from Elaine Morgan
Rod Hagen (rodhagen@insane.apana.org.au)
Mon, 23 Jan 1995 10:28:50 +1000
In article <3eplhs$im6@newsbf02.news.aol.com>, patdooley@aol.com (Pat
Dooley) wrote:
>
> If we observe modern day savannah hunter-gathers, we find that they
> operate
> by stealth and rely on projectile weapons. The bushmen use bows and
> poisened
> arrows; the Australian aborigines use spears with a sling mechanism
> (woomera)
> and the boomerang. The latter also made great use of fire in there
> hunting,
> to the point where they transformed much of the Australian ecology into a
> fire ecology.
>
The bulk of Aboriginal food from arid regions consists of vegetable foods,
and small animals (lizards, insect larvae etc etc). Hunting in such areas
always sems to have been a comparatively minor component of diet. A
favoured locale in the middle of the day in summer is a nice shady place
with plenty of available bush tucker and nearby water.
Don't know what this means for the AAT argument, if anything, though!
One thing that strikes me is that a fair amount of the ecologically
oriented discussion (on both sides) in this argument revolves around huamn
predation on animals. Both contemporary humans and apes are omnivorous
with a bias towards munching on vegetation for most of their nutrient
requirements. Where did the Aquatic Apes get their greens?
--
Rod Hagen
rodhagen@insanity.apana.org.au
Rod_Hagen@maccontent.apana.org.au
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