Did stone age people baton?

So let's see.

They spend countless hours finding, then shaping a chert or obsidian blade with enough length to baton with, so they could jam it into a log edgewise then pound on it with another log?

Not likely.

Axes, yes.
 
Stone ax heads were not used in the way that we use steel ax heads. A full swing of even a very sharp ax would yield a pile of stone rubble. The heads were used to tap and peck at the wood until it was cut. Large trees were likely felled the same way that primitive people fell trees today- with fire.

How did stone age peoples create fire? Not the stone age, but the copper age was more than a few years ago... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ötzi_the_Iceman

Note that this man was found with a flint knife, but a copper ax. Stone is suitable for a slicing blade, but not for an impact blade.
 
Many stone age cultures never let their fire die once it was lit.
They often used tinder bundles to carry the hot embers for miles.
 
also maybe in the beginning nature lit fire for them and they quickly found a way to keep it going and move it around.

i think that's how popcorn was 'invented'
 
Many, many years ago I meet this woodworker, I told him about a huge oak tree that came down on the trail to the cabin I was living in at the time. He wanted to harvest the wood for some tables he was making for an up scale restaurant and I needed the trail cleared so I could get a vehicle back to the cabin.

After he cut the trunk into big blocks with a chainsaw he went about splitting them down the center then again and again, he got two large table tops from the first two splits and a two piece table top from the second splits. He split the oak with wedges he made out of sections of branches from the same tree. Once he started the split he made more wedges as needed until he had enough 4" thick boards to make 7 or 8 tables.

He had a chainsaw and a sledge hammer with him and did some amazing work with what I considered few tools. I imagine our ancestors where even more resourceful but how they did it exactly I've no clue. Some of the stone axe heads I've seen would be wonderful wedges, at least for starting the spilt.
 
Yorkshire Boy said:
Yet again Dr Bill (got me thinking)...

So how on earth did our ancestors cope with non metals?

Any ideas...

How could they get a fire going while all wood around them was wet?
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they lived in caves a lot, were used to what we call 'survival and bushcraft' as their daily experience, and most likely were prepared.
 
Yorkshire Boy said:
How could they get a fire going while all wood around them was wet?
Click to expand...
Who says they did? There's a reason the world population didn't boom until the advent of civilization and decline of self-reliance. Most of those people didn't survive in spite of that being their primary concern 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. No doubt they were very familiar with their local areas, but the idea they were some kind of "super-survivalists" who could do more with nothing is just a romantic fantasy.
 
OwenM said:
Who says they did? There's a reason the world population didn't boom until the advent of civilization and decline of self-reliance. Most of those people didn't survive in spite of that being their primary concern 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. No doubt they were very familiar with their local areas, but the idea they were some kind of "super-survivalists" who could do more with nothing is just a romantic fantasy.
Click to expand...

I don't care what your IQ is, in the woods experience is everything. These people spent every day, from birth to death, in the woods. Even if the average life expectancy was just a few years longer than minimum reproduction age that's still 16, 17 years of wilderness experience. You're telling me that 16 to 17 years of constant wilderness experience doesn't make you a ''supersurvivalist?" I beg to differ.
 
PayetteRucker said:
I don't care what your IQ is, in the woods experience is everything. These people spent every day, from birth to death, in the woods. Even if the average life expectancy was just a few years longer than minimum reproduction age that's still 16, 17 years of wilderness experience. You're telling me that 16 to 17 years of constant wilderness experience doesn't make you a ''supersurvivalist?" I beg to differ.
Click to expand...

Or, to follow up on what PayetteRucker is saying, how about sending any modern city dweller out to work on a farm for a day. They wouldn't be able to perform tasks that a ten year old farm child could perform almost without thought, simply because the city dweller would have none of the knowledge that the farm child takes for granted.

Yes, I agree that ancient man had skills far beyond those the best of us — even the best "trained" survivalist — have today.
 
Maybe they used the canines from Sabre Tooth Tigers and the thigh bone from a giant sloth .
 
hushnel said:
Many, many years ago I meet this woodworker, I told him about a huge oak tree that came down on the trail to the cabin I was living in at the time. He wanted to harvest the wood for some tables he was making for an up scale restaurant and I needed the trail cleared so I could get a vehicle back to the cabin.

After he cut the trunk into big blocks with a chainsaw he went about splitting them down the center then again and again, he got two large table tops from the first two splits and a two piece table top from the second splits. He split the oak with wedges he made out of sections of branches from the same tree. Once he started the split he made more wedges as needed until he had enough 4" thick boards to make 7 or 8 tables.

He had a chainsaw and a sledge hammer with him and did some amazing work with what I considered few tools. I imagine our ancestors where even more resourceful but how they did it exactly I've no clue. Some of the stone axe heads I've seen would be wonderful wedges, at least for starting the spilt.
Click to expand...

Interesting. Wooden wedges to split logs. I would bet that ancient man used a method like this if necessary, especially when stone tools would break.
It's interesting (to me) that viking longships have no metal in them. The norsemen drill a hole between the planks, push a wooden dowel through the holes, and split the wooden dowel with a wooden wedge to hold the joint. Leaks are sealed with pitch soaked cloth, or just pitch. No metal. Nothing to rust in the sea.
 
PayetteRucker said:
I don't care what your IQ is, in the woods experience is everything. These people spent every day, from birth to death, in the woods. Even if the average life expectancy was just a few years longer than minimum reproduction age that's still 16, 17 years of wilderness experience. You're telling me that 16 to 17 years of constant wilderness experience doesn't make you a ''supersurvivalist?" I beg to differ.
Click to expand...

The modern conception that ancient man died young is false. Sure, with a homicide rate of over 30%, infanticide a common occurence in meager times, and no modern medicine to save a life from a broken leg, or bad staph infection, the 'average' life expectancy is lower. Studies of fossil evidence (and medical studies of modern hunter-gatherer groups) indicate that paleo hunter-gatherer groups often had/have individuals living well past 80 years, often with none of the degenerative conditions that we "civilized" people suffer from. They don't eat wheat (we shouldn't either). Their carbohydrate intake is much, much lower (no diabetes, Coronary disease, MS, alzheimers, dental cavities, IBS/Crohn's, or autoimmune disorders like lupus, CREST, Sjogrens, or various neuropathies, and they often have excellent uncorrected vision). They eat more animal fat, insects and eggs (we should too). They get tons of sunshine (Vitamin D baby!! VERY important).
 
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Yorkshire Boy said:
Yet again Dr Bill (got me thinking)...

So how on earth did our ancestors cope with non metals?

Any ideas...

How could they get a fire going while all wood around them was wet?
Click to expand...
Hey man, I don't think it's a good idea to baton with stone tools as they will most likely break. Dry wood/tinder can be found in numerous places though, even in the rain. It's just a matter of looking but it is most likely that living the life of a wanderer they would have been prepared for most situations or known how to cope in bad circumstances. When you think about it their form of schooling was being taught how to live in the wild with the tools and materials that were available at each time of the year which in my opinion is no small feat! Surely if we were put into many of the same situations as them with nothing more than our bare hands we would perish. Anyway... This was a very interesting choice of topic.
Just though I'd mention both of my parents are from Bradford! I spent a lot of time in Yorkshire growing up :)
Take care bro,
Gabriel.
 
If you're foolish enough to let the fire die, and the wood get wet, you sit, huddled together for warmth, throwing rocks at the wolves, bitching about the weather and your women, chewing on whatever meager food you have, and waiting eagerly for the dawn. It's been this way forever. It's still this way for many.

A-"Oh, Grok, would you mind splitting that log over there? It might be dry inside."
B-"F U Hrothgar! Your woman's a whore, and her ass looks like a bear's ass, just as hairy too."
A-"Shut up and chew your jerky, Grok. The sun will be up soon."
 
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PayetteRucker said:
I don't care what your IQ is, in the woods experience is everything. These people spent every day, from birth to death, in the woods. Even if the average life expectancy was just a few years longer than minimum reproduction age that's still 16, 17 years of wilderness experience. You're telling me that 16 to 17 years of constant wilderness experience doesn't make you a ''supersurvivalist?" I beg to differ.
Click to expand...
There are many aboriginals who had much greater lifespans than the average modern man! There are accounts of native Americans living for over a hundred years and accounts of Indian saints living in caves for hundreds of years!(but lets save that discussion for another time:D). And I completely agree with you here, Id say an average stone age man was much more fit, healthy and probably much smarter than the average modern man.
 
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