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These are incredibly clever. They chased an animal into a space with some areas that look like escapes but are actually pitfalls. That requires such high level

These are incredibly clever. They chased an animal into a space with some areas that look like escapes but are actually pitfalls. That requires such high level thinking. They’re really putting themselves in the mind of the scared animal in designing something like this. I’m fully aware that people of this era did not have the mentality of toddlers, but there’s still something to be said for the level of social development and communication that must be present to convince a large group of folks to build out one of these things.

singularity2001 3y ago
These features might have arisen through "natural evolution" of traps but I doubt not that people of that era where capable of comprehending the architecture once it was there.
qrybam 3y ago
I understand that this comment probably wasn’t meant in this way but it comes off as condescending of people from only a few thousand years ago and it feels like my friends were being spoken about (personally!) We have to remember that it’s humans we're talking about here, and that this wasn’t exactly that long ago. They would have had the same cognitive potential as us, if not more simply because we’re lazy ungrateful creatures living in a level of comfort that royalty of old could not even imagine. The cost of a mistake in their “real world” was often death, and they _had_ to get it right so that their family didn’t die. People can spontaneously self organise and achieve all sorts of things “on the spot”, kids in the playground do this daily- making up fun games without any parental input. I don’t believe you need a whole level of social development beyond “I won’t kill you, let’s be friends” to achieve great things. This becomes complicated as groups grow of course, but I would imagine most of us have experienced this on some level. Necessity is the mother of innovation. Doing something the hard/impossible way a few times will force you to be creative, especially when you need to feed your family/group.
dalbasal 3y ago
They were probably very skilled at this kind of thinking, more than and I. You have to emphasize with an animal to track it, for example. Even non human hunters have such intuitions. A wildcat knows when a squirrel is likely to head for the nearest tree. By the time such structures were being built, coralling using simpler or natural terrain features was probably an important hunting method. Imo the notable part here is the scale and it's implications. Large groups. Long term projects. Long lived assets. A progressive mindset, where the "economy" and roles within it change. That's not, seemingly, the default.
smeagull 3y ago
Such high level thinking: "Damn, that animal got away through this path. Put a trap there." x10

singularity2001 3y ago

These features might have arisen through "natural evolution" of traps but I doubt not that people of that era where capable of comprehending the architecture once it was there.

qrybam 3y ago

I understand that this comment probably wasn’t meant in this way but it comes off as condescending of people from only a few thousand years ago and it feels like my friends were being spoken about (personally!) We have to remember that it’s humans we're talking about here, and that this wasn’t exactly that long ago. They would have had the same cognitive potential as us, if not more simply because we’re lazy ungrateful creatures living in a level of comfort that royalty of old could not even imagine. The cost of a mistake in their “real world” was often death, and they _had_ to get it right so that their family didn’t die. People can spontaneously self organise and achieve all sorts of things “on the spot”, kids in the playground do this daily- making up fun games without any parental input. I don’t believe you need a whole level of social development beyond “I won’t kill you, let’s be friends” to achieve great things. This becomes complicated as groups grow of course, but I would imagine most of us have experienced this on some level. Necessity is the mother of innovation. Doing something the hard/impossible way a few times will force you to be creative, especially when you need to feed your family/group.

dalbasal 3y ago

They were probably very skilled at this kind of thinking, more than and I. You have to emphasize with an animal to track it, for example. Even non human hunters have such intuitions. A wildcat knows when a squirrel is likely to head for the nearest tree. By the time such structures were being built, coralling using simpler or natural terrain features was probably an important hunting method. Imo the notable part here is the scale and it's implications. Large groups. Long term projects. Long lived assets. A progressive mindset, where the "economy" and roles within it change. That's not, seemingly, the default.

smeagull 3y ago

Such high level thinking: "Damn, that animal got away through this path. Put a trap there." x10