Okay, first off, I want to be clear that this is not any troll post, so please hear me out. Also this is not something I am thinking of attempting any time soon!
Basically, I have an interest in human evolution and hunter-gatherer lifestyle and techniques and all of that. My understanding is that the first weapon that put humans at the top of the food chain in terms of hunting capabilities, was the spear. Chimpanzees, which intelligence-wise would be equivalent to some of our very primitive ancestors, make primitive spears. They take branches and use their teeth to knock off the twigs and leaves and then use them to stab at small animals like bush babies to eat. Primitive spears by human ancestors from two million years ago have been discovered (modern Homo Sapien Sapiens, ourselves, appeared about 250,000 years ago) and tested by javelin athletes and they work very well.
Now Homo Sapiens, by evolutionary biology, are considered one of the great apes (we and chimpanzees are genetically closer to one another than chimpanzees are to gorillas). Technically, we would be considered a very short-haired, long-legged, upright-walking ape that is designed to run distance and make tools, and with a huge brain, making us very high-functioning. Another anatomical feature we have over all other primates however is the ability to engage in an overhand throw. This was likely evolved to be able to throw spears. It started with our ancestors, such as Homo Erectus, for whom throwing spears was an important aspect of hunting. For example, a chimpanzee is far stronger than a human in terms of raw physical strength, but their throwing ability is nonetheless pathetic, due to their arm anatomy (which is designed for gripping and pulling, to swing through trees, not throwing projectiles).
The spear and human distance running capability (humans are among the best distance runners in the animal kingdom) created a totally new type of predator. Generally, predators are ambush hunters who sprint down their prey and must rely on physical strength to kill it. But humans, at a minimum, will run the animal down over distance and/or throw a spear into it, which thus made the animals that the otherwise weak little creatures that humans could hunt unlimited. The lion for example can't kill the elephant. The elephant has no predator in the wild except for other elephants and humans. Humans armed with spears are fully capable of killing elephants, and during prehistoric times, humans (and our ancestors) killed all manner of megafauna, ranging from giant ground sloth to wooly mammoth and mastodon, wooly rhino to even the giant grizzly bears of the time.
Now eventually, instead of just throwing the spear bare-armed, humans invented a very simple, but very ingenious tool to increase the force the spear could be thrown and the distance it could be thrown, the spear thrower (also called the atlatl):
This allowed humans to throw the spear from a further, and hence safer, distance away. It was so successful that it became a primary method of hunting big animals for tens of thousands of years until the bow and arrow was invented.
Now going back to my original question, I have been Googling up, out of curiosity, about spear hunting and spear hunting a grizzly bear, and found one thread at The High Road forum on spear hunting a grizzly bear. The consensus was that most thought the idea was nuts and the thread was closed after three pages. I was wondering if maybe they had some misconceptions about the spear though and its effectiveness. They said that the idea was too dangerous and a good way to get killed, but that's what leads to my question here:
If prehistoric humans could hunt all those big animals, including bears, with just spears, why couldn't modern humans? Obviously, it would require some degree of athletic/physical skill to be capable of throwing the spear over any real distance, but in particular with an atlatl, couldn't a human hunt a grizzly bear with a spear from a safe distance, and just instead of shooting at it with a gun, launch a spear into it instead? My understanding is that with an atlatl, a person can throw a spear over 120 yards.
Thus, would hunting with a spear really be as dangerous as some think, or is this impression more due to people having forgotten the athletic capabilities that prehistoric humans had when they hunted with spears? Obviously Joe Sixpack trying to go out and hunt with a spear would probably be a bad idea, but I mean someone with a lot of capability in spear and atlatl throwing with accuracy and distance, who also knows how to hunt. Such a person would probably also have experience hunting other more safer animals first.
Also I can understand of course that having a firearm makes things safer in terms of backup weapons in case ambushed, and also just in terms of hunting out of necessity instead of sport, but I'd liken spear hunting to going into the wilderness to survive solely off the land, i.e. stone tools and all that, just to see if one could do it. It doesn't mean one wouldn't take along modern supplies as a backup.
Basically, I have an interest in human evolution and hunter-gatherer lifestyle and techniques and all of that. My understanding is that the first weapon that put humans at the top of the food chain in terms of hunting capabilities, was the spear. Chimpanzees, which intelligence-wise would be equivalent to some of our very primitive ancestors, make primitive spears. They take branches and use their teeth to knock off the twigs and leaves and then use them to stab at small animals like bush babies to eat. Primitive spears by human ancestors from two million years ago have been discovered (modern Homo Sapien Sapiens, ourselves, appeared about 250,000 years ago) and tested by javelin athletes and they work very well.
Now Homo Sapiens, by evolutionary biology, are considered one of the great apes (we and chimpanzees are genetically closer to one another than chimpanzees are to gorillas). Technically, we would be considered a very short-haired, long-legged, upright-walking ape that is designed to run distance and make tools, and with a huge brain, making us very high-functioning. Another anatomical feature we have over all other primates however is the ability to engage in an overhand throw. This was likely evolved to be able to throw spears. It started with our ancestors, such as Homo Erectus, for whom throwing spears was an important aspect of hunting. For example, a chimpanzee is far stronger than a human in terms of raw physical strength, but their throwing ability is nonetheless pathetic, due to their arm anatomy (which is designed for gripping and pulling, to swing through trees, not throwing projectiles).
The spear and human distance running capability (humans are among the best distance runners in the animal kingdom) created a totally new type of predator. Generally, predators are ambush hunters who sprint down their prey and must rely on physical strength to kill it. But humans, at a minimum, will run the animal down over distance and/or throw a spear into it, which thus made the animals that the otherwise weak little creatures that humans could hunt unlimited. The lion for example can't kill the elephant. The elephant has no predator in the wild except for other elephants and humans. Humans armed with spears are fully capable of killing elephants, and during prehistoric times, humans (and our ancestors) killed all manner of megafauna, ranging from giant ground sloth to wooly mammoth and mastodon, wooly rhino to even the giant grizzly bears of the time.
Now eventually, instead of just throwing the spear bare-armed, humans invented a very simple, but very ingenious tool to increase the force the spear could be thrown and the distance it could be thrown, the spear thrower (also called the atlatl):
This allowed humans to throw the spear from a further, and hence safer, distance away. It was so successful that it became a primary method of hunting big animals for tens of thousands of years until the bow and arrow was invented.
Now going back to my original question, I have been Googling up, out of curiosity, about spear hunting and spear hunting a grizzly bear, and found one thread at The High Road forum on spear hunting a grizzly bear. The consensus was that most thought the idea was nuts and the thread was closed after three pages. I was wondering if maybe they had some misconceptions about the spear though and its effectiveness. They said that the idea was too dangerous and a good way to get killed, but that's what leads to my question here:
If prehistoric humans could hunt all those big animals, including bears, with just spears, why couldn't modern humans? Obviously, it would require some degree of athletic/physical skill to be capable of throwing the spear over any real distance, but in particular with an atlatl, couldn't a human hunt a grizzly bear with a spear from a safe distance, and just instead of shooting at it with a gun, launch a spear into it instead? My understanding is that with an atlatl, a person can throw a spear over 120 yards.
Thus, would hunting with a spear really be as dangerous as some think, or is this impression more due to people having forgotten the athletic capabilities that prehistoric humans had when they hunted with spears? Obviously Joe Sixpack trying to go out and hunt with a spear would probably be a bad idea, but I mean someone with a lot of capability in spear and atlatl throwing with accuracy and distance, who also knows how to hunt. Such a person would probably also have experience hunting other more safer animals first.
Also I can understand of course that having a firearm makes things safer in terms of backup weapons in case ambushed, and also just in terms of hunting out of necessity instead of sport, but I'd liken spear hunting to going into the wilderness to survive solely off the land, i.e. stone tools and all that, just to see if one could do it. It doesn't mean one wouldn't take along modern supplies as a backup.
