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Instead of Thrown, Spears Were Planted in the Ground to Kill a Charging Mammoth (www.discovermagazine.com)

submitted 11 months ago by FlyingSquid@lemmy.world to c/science@lemmy.world

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[-] RicoBerto@lemmy.blahaj.zone 54 points 11 months ago

Pikes were used much the same way right? Surprised I never put the two together, ancient humans weren't stupid so of course they'd realize that was a better way of causing harm than just throwing it. Not to mention their use of leverage in weapons like the Atlatl. No clue on the timespan of these things but I do find this stuff interesting.

[-] Transporter_Room_3@startrek.website 22 points 11 months ago

I'm sure so much of our history is more or less completely unknowable simply because the remains all degraded quickly.

How many things made out of wood that simply rotted away, or burned or any one of a thousand things.

Stone tools were a game changer in every sense.

[-] Peppycito@sh.itjust.works 5 points 11 months ago

I would posit string being the real game changer. How do you think they got the stone on the end of a stick?

[-] abigscaryhobo@lemmy.world 13 points 11 months ago

Honest answer, usually animal sinew, or certain grasses could be used as well. The nice thing with string, once it was figured out was you could make as much as you could, and make it as long as you wanted.

[-] Peppycito@sh.itjust.works 10 points 11 months ago

I totally count sinew as string. That probably led to plant string. Think about really fine string, or thread, and think about how many miles of it you carry around on you every day. It's crazy how taken for granted it is!