Archery...older than HSS?

[Minimalist]

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg2 ... nline-news

BOWS and arrows may not be the preserve of modern humans. It seems that simple stone blades make adequate arrowheads, so they might have been used in lightweight projectile weapons as far back as 100,000 years ago, when the blades first appeared.

[Sam Salmon]

Atlatal not B & A.

[Minimalist]

Why not both? Different weapons for different targets. In fact, keeping a big thrusting spear around to finish off a big animal seems like a pretty solid idea, too.

[Rokcet Scientist]

older than HSS?

I think we need some definitions here.

Is HSS younger than 100,000 years BCE? If so, then when (approximately) did he rear his ugly head first in your opinion, Min?
Afaik HSS' predecessor – HS – is supposed to have risen around 200,000 years BCE. The question is: from what hominid did HS evolve? From Homo Erectus? From Homo Heidelbergensis? Or was the latter only HN's ancestor?

[Minimalist]

They don't say where these points were found but Levallois is generally considered to be HNS. If HNS was using them 100,000 years ago then, according to the OOA theory, they were doing so without influence from HSS because we didn't arrive on the scene until c 40,000 BC.

Of course, if OOA turns out to be full of shit then all bets are off, aren't they?

[Rokcet Scientist]

They don't say where these points were found but Levallois is generally considered to be HNS. If HNS was using them 100,000 years ago then, according to the OOA theory, they were doing so without influence from HSS because we didn't arrive on the scene until c 40,000 BC.

Huh? Afaik genetic tracing has concluded that HS(S?) left Africa in 2 waves. One a little over 100,000 BCE and the other a little over 70,000 BCE.

What does that "40,000 BC" allude to, Min? Is that when HSS and HN are supposed to have met in Europe?

[Minimalist]

Supposedly when HSS came into contact with HNS.

[Digit]

I made the point on the 'other' forum that arrows, and probably spears as well, could well pre date flint points.
Fire hardened arrows as a MK One seems logical. Also bone points would have been much simpler to attach to a wooden shaft than stone ones.
I can't believe that archery achieved it's final development over night.

Roy.

[Minimalist]

Indeed, Roy.

You know, The Club holds to the line that it wasn't until HSS that humans could think of much of anything. But if they had devised boats that could sail the Pacific is it really rocket science to devise a bow? Or an atlatl. Is it even that difficult to realize that these weapons serve better for different targets?

Maybe that's why they seek to hold the line on the "stupid cave man" model? Because once they acknowledge the tech skills of HE they let the genie out of the bottle.

[Digit]

What always pisses me off Min is their apparent inability to see that many of their statements make them look far more stupid than any cave dweller.

Roy.

[Minimalist]