What would you ask early man?

[BOD]

I am reading Stephen Oppenheimer's excellent book 'The real Eve-Out of Africa' about the migration by early mankind from Africa to the rest of the world.

He writes, from the mtDNA perspective, about small relic populations left along the Indian Ocean rim while the main groups went on to colonise the Pacific, Asia, Australia and Europe. Their genes are closest to the first migrants.

Fortunately, they have been comparatively ignored compared to more "charismatic" groups of hunter-gatherers such as the Penan even though they are far older communities. Better still, they are more in a state of nature and have been spared the the concern of do-gooders.

It occurred to me that I could contact these groups and look at their bushcraft and thought of seeking your advice.

What do you think I should ask/do etc.??

 

[Gabe]

Why are you so early?

 

[Laurentius]

What is the time?

I reckon you would learn a lot by how pre industrial society measures the time of day.

 

[sapper1]

What do you worry about?Is it where your next meal is coming from or how are you going to meet the mortgage payments~?

 

[tobes01]

What's the meaning of life? Why are we here? What's the secret to happiness?

I suspect he'd have a better idea about that sort of question than anyone around these days...

 

[bushwacker bob]

I am the first 'eco-tourist' can you start making some of your craftwares to sell to me and those that will follow? It will provide you with money so you don't have to live like this any more and will enable you to get TV, internet, alcohol, Man united teeshirts,proper schools and all the other stuff I have and you dont need. YET.

 

[Toddy]

Will you tell me of your life ? And the stories and songs of your elders ?

Everything else comes and goes, but stories get lost

Stuart said that Anthropologists didn't want to talk with him, I think they think his data is scewed because it doesn't fit their research viewpoints. If you do do this, please write the books, publish the journeys, that way when Anthropology goes through a sea change (and it will ) the information is still available regardless of their non involvement.

atb,
M

 

[bushwacker bob]

Fortunately, they have been comparatively ignored compared to more "charismatic" groups of hunter-gatherers such as the Penan even though they are far older communities. Better still, they are more in a state of nature and have been spared the the concern of do-gooders.

Until now.

It occurred to me that I could contact these groups and look at their bushcraft and thought of seeking your advice.

Dont go there.

ethics (Noun, pl)
1. a code of behaviour, esp. of a particular group, profession, or individual: business ethics
2. the moral fitness of a decision, course of action, etc.

 

[locum76]

My question: whats for dinner?

 

[BOD]

J**** C****t!

I guess I walked straight into it.

What I meant was what aspects of their bushcraft would be interesting.

I certainly won't be eco-touristing or trying to make a profit out of their craft. Hate that sort of thing.

They are already studied by anthropologists who look into concepts of property, social structure cosmology etc.

Social scientists seldom concern themselves with the details of the technologies.

But hats off to BB for suggesting that I leave them alone.

 

[NikDarkwood]

Hmmm let me see.... ok

If your so clever how come your all dead by the time your 30yrs old?

Or how come you dont gag eating some of that stuff?

 

[Toddy]

Okay then, how about their foraging techniques ? Cordage making and materials selection are always goodies

By publish I meant write it up, widen the range of their story so that survival is more likely, not that you'd rip them off.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[BOD]

Okay then, how about their foraging techniques ? Cordage making and materials selection are always goodies

By publish I meant write it up, widen the range of their story so that survival is more likely, not that you'd rip them off.

cheers,
Toddy

I never thought you would suggest to rip them off Toddy.!

I was thinking their bushcraft and crafts would be closer to what early humans practiced.

Of course much would be familiar to many bushcrafters but there may be little details that anthropologists miss but a bushcrafter might pick up - like the practice of splitting the end of a log before putting it in a fire as Buckshot and Moduser noticed in Borneo or why a hunter-gatherer has a horizontally sheathed golok when coastal peoples carry them vertically.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semang

 

[Toddy]

The Japanese have a word for the little tips and tricks of everyday life. They call these Urawaza, and it includes everything from how to clear a stuffed up nose to how to encourage a fire to burn with unlikely materials.
I think a study of the Urawaza of those coastal peoples would be fascinating

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Spikey DaPikey]

How they know what is edible and what is not, and also about there medicine.

 

[Tengu]

You will have to learn about their languages, these sort of people have very complex language, we cannot compete with them in that aspect

 

[demographic]

Might sound daft but I'd be interested in the gestures they use as well as their language, do they nod affirmative and shake their head as a negative and so on.

That gives a clue as to what's kind of instinct and what's cultural if you get my drift.

 

[some like it cold]

how did you get that new club without SWMBO noticing

only joking i'd like to learn about their medicines and relationships with animals

 

[bushwacker bob]

how did you get that new club without SWMBO noticing

only joking i'd like to learn about their medicines and relationships with animals

Thou shall not covet thy neighbours goat.

 

[country boy]

i would like to know if like they had the same respect as the indians for the earth and what it provides and how they dealt with illness and treating it