The Pintupi Nine.

[Toddy]

I've been reading this story on the BBC about the nine Australian Aborigine people who only became part of the modern world in 1984. Until that point they had lived just as their ancestors had done for thousands of years.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-30500591

Not long ago we had a thread about the Walrus hunters in western Russia and their traditional lifestyles too.

Makes you wonder; what was ours like ? Our lands were temperate, tree covered in the large parts, and to move distances folks used water routes. Farming didn't start here, it seems that was brought here...or was it, or was it unnecessary to do much of it when the islands were full of plenty and the population small ?

I saw The Hunter (Orion) in the sky tonight and I minded being told about folks following him through the seasons...unlike the Egyptians who believed that he'd created the stars (and they couldn't see that it really was a nebula below his belt didn't know just how nebulas create stars )

Sorry for the ramble; I have a butterfly mind


M

 

[The Cumbrian]

Although we didn't have farming, I wouldn't be surprised if our ancestors had gardens, especially if they spent the spring and summer in the same locality. They were as clever (and potentially as lazy) as we are, and saving work by planting medicinal and commonly used plants around their seasonal campsites seems more than likely to me.

Cheers, Michael.