Hunting Methods of Early Man - Research Paper Example

Hunting Methods of Early Man Grade (November 2, Hunting Methods of Early Man Introduction The evidenced of early man hunting dates back to over 2 million years ago, when man started butchering animals for food (Nitecki, 5). The farfetched theory of the effect of hunting by the early man has suggested that numerous changes were noted at around this time that man started hunting for food, owing to the fact that the memory and the brain size were found to start expanding at around that time. In addition, the body size and the posture were also observed to register changes at around the period man started hunting, with an increase in body size and tendency to more upright posture being the noticeable changes of the period (Lee, DeVore and Nash-Mitchell, 22). In this respect, the question of how man started hunting and the methods that he applied comes into the fore. Thus, this discussion seeks to assess the methods applied by the early man during hunting. Discussion Hunting by fire is one of the methods that have been discovered being used by the early man. Fire was among the first discoveries that early man made, which changed the lifestyle of early man drastically, especially as related to the eating habits of man (Nitecki, 5). The earliest archeological evidences have indicated that the early forms of man were eating raw foods, but the discovery of fire came in handy as a means of enabling man eat a variety of food, as well as helping man insulate against cold. The sooner fire was discovered to be an important item that could change the life of man in different ways, the sooner it was also adapted as a hunting tool, where man could chase after the animals with a lit torch of fire towards the cliffs (Stanford and Bunn, 4). This way, the animals could get injured as they fell down the cliff and man would be able to take them and use them for food. Another method that has been discovered as having been used by early man in hunting is the use of crude weapons such as stones (Nitecki, 12). Amongst the important tools that have proven useful for man during the early human forms is the stones, which were not only used as weapons for protection and security against harmful animals, but also as a tool for digging tubers and roots that man used as food during those days. Eventually, man adapted the stones as tools for hunting, which they could use to chase after animals and throw at them, thus injuring and incapacitating the animals (Stanford and Bunn, 9). The same tools would be used to kill and then slaughter the animals, owing to the fact that the early form of humans had not discovered metallic or any other form of sharp tools. It is these stone tools that formed the hunting daggers that became very useful for human hunting not only during the early forms of humans but also tending towards the modern man. Persistence hunting is yet another tactic that has been found to be applied by the early man in hunting (Liebenberg, 156). This form of hunting was among the oldest hunting tactics, which entailed man trailing and running after the animals, until the animals would get exhausted and unable to escape any more (Liebenberg, 157). The persistent hunting technique proved useful owing to the fact that; man is created to be able to sweat on the event of overheating activities such as running, which in turn reduces the rate of exhaustion and allows man to move faster and for longer durations (Liebenberg, 156). On the other hand, the quadrupedal herbivorous animals need to stop and re-energize through the process of panting and galloping for air, thus making them prone to human attack during this stage (Liebenberg, 158). It is in this respect, that persistent hunting technique became a fundamental method of hunting. Nevertheless, this hunting tactic was not a function of mere running after the animals, but also entailed stone hunting, where the early man could chase after the animals, and when they had gotten exhausted, then they could use the stone tools such as the stone dagger to injure and incapacitate the animals (Stanford and Bunn, 4). In this respect, persistent hunting cannot be described as a hunting technique on its own, but a complimentary hunting technique that aided other hunting techniques such as hunting by fire or stone hunting, since in either case, running after the animals was a common aspect. Spear hunting was another method of hunting that was applied by early man in hunting for game animals, though this method was adapted at a much later stage, after man realized the combination of wood sticks and sharpened stone edges would result in a more effective hunting tool than the mere use of stone wedges (Stanford and Bunn, 7). The introduction of spear hunting came as a result of realizing that there were certain animals that could not be hunt down through the earlier primitive methods of persistent hunting, hunting by fire or stone hunting, since such animals were either too big or too dangerous (Nitecki, 21). The hunting of big game animals such as buffalo and elephants requires that the hunting is done from a safe distance, since such animals are dangerous and can easily attack man. Therefore, the use of stones alone to hunt such animals became less effective, since stones could only be thrown at a short distance from the targeted game animal, if they were meant to incapacitate or kill the animal. Consequently, man discovered that there was the need for an aiding tool that would propel the sharp stone wedge fast and at a longer distance, to enable hunting from a safe distance (Lee, DeVore and Nash-Mitchell, 36). This way, man combined the sharp stone wedges with a wooden stick to form a spear which then became an effective hunting tool that was used by man for long, even tending to civilization. Conclusion In conclusion, different methods of hunting have been applied by early man throughout human history. Such methods include persistent hunting through chasing and running after the animals, hunting by fire, stone hunting and finally spear hunting, which became the long-standing hunting method for early man and persisted through to modernity. Works Cited Lee, Richard B, Irven DeVore, and Jill Nash-Mitchell. Man the Hunter. Chicago: Aldine, 1973. 7-56.Print. Liebenberg, Louis. "The Relevance of Persistence Hunting to Human Evolution." Journal of Human Evolution 55(6): 2008. 156-159. Print. Nitecki, Matthew H. The Evolution of Human Hunting. New York: Plenum Press, 1987. 5-29. Print. Stanford, Craig B, and Henry T. Bunn. Meat-eating & Human Evolution. Oxford [England: Oxford University Press, 2001. 4-81. Print. Read More