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General >> Project Goliath - The History of The Sling >> Jean M. Auel's "Earth's Children" novels.
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Message started by sirowen on Jan 17th, 2010 at 2:44pm

Title: Jean M. Auel's "Earth's Children" novels.
Post by sirowen on Jan 17th, 2010 at 2:44pm
I've seen several posts about the movie "The Clan of the Cave Bear". But the book(s) that the movie is based on are extremely well researched. Jean Auel goes to great pain to thank the experts who help her get her details right. Paleo-archeologists and others supplied her with huge amounts of data and she is pretty forthright about details that weren't in perfect keeping with their findings. So, if everything in the books about slings is right, they may actually pre-date homo sapiens and have come into use by Neanderthals.  :o

Title: Re: Jean M. Auel's "Earth's Children" novels.
Post by Grayorchid on Jan 22nd, 2010 at 6:39am
I would not be supprised if slings predate modern homo sapiens.  Our shoulder can reach farther back than any other ape, all the better for throwing things.   Use of spears and purpose built bludgeons has been with our ancestors so long that it has affected the structure of our wrist compared to other apes.

All it takes is some chump messing around with a long strip of something flexible to discover the power of a sling.   There is no doubt in my mind that all my ancestors delighted in messing around absentmindedly for long periods of time.  :)

The first book is very good.  It's what started me slinging as a kid.

Title: Re: Jean M. Auel's "Earth's Children" novels.
Post by curious_aardvark on Jan 22nd, 2010 at 1:52pm
well neanderhals were brighter and significantly more advanced culturally than our distant ancestors. so yep - probably had slings.

That said - is there any evidence in neanderthal cave paintings of sling use ?
can't recall anyone ever mentioning it or having seen any.

You pretty much just see spears and mammoth, and deer - it's possible that the neanderthal only used weapons for hunting - and hunting bison and mammoth with slings is a bit of a non-starter. possible they used them for smaller game - but I'd like to see pictographical evidence.

I don't rate the clan books at all.

Title: Re: Jean M. Auel's "Earth's Children" novels.
Post by paleoarts on Jan 24th, 2010 at 10:56pm
neanderthals didn't produce cave art or art of any kind for that matter. that is strictly a Homo Sapien trait.

Title: Re: Jean M. Auel's "Earth's Children" novels.
Post by Thearos on Jan 25th, 2010 at 7:21am
Never read any of the Auel books. Private Eye (UK satirical mag) had a good review of them decades ago-- making fun of hte sex scenes

Title: Re: Jean M. Auel's "Earth's Children" novels.
Post by curious_aardvark on Jan 25th, 2010 at 11:34am
Neanderthals, had music, religion and complexe burial rituals as well as tools - so why not art ?

Given the longevity and widespread distribution of neanderthals and the fact that they overlapped cro-magnon dude by a 1000 years or so - who's to say who painted which caves.

Archaeologists do tend to be biased towards their own pet theories and occasionally blind to alternatives.

It's daft to say 'neanderthals never painted caves'.
The best you can say is: archaeologists do not believe neanderthals made cave paintings.
But belief is not fact :-) It's just an opinion.
 

Title: Re: Jean M. Auel's "Earth's Children" novels.
Post by Aussie on Jan 26th, 2010 at 4:30am

Thearos wrote on Jan 25th, 2010 at 7:21am:
Never read any of the Auel books. Private Eye (UK satirical mag) had a good review of them decades ago-- making fun of hte sex scenes


Probably saved yourself a fair amount of time. Whether the book is anthropologically accurate I am not qualified to say but I found the story fairly contrived; a sort of "stoneage soapie". Be that as it may, I really can't imagine a person in small tribal community surreptitiously learning to sling well enough to secretly decimate the local carnivorous wildlife and then perform a deadly double shot to slay a marauding wolverine. However accurate the other details are I found the slinging itself to be somewhat farfetched.

Title: Re: Jean M. Auel's "Earth's Children" novels.
Post by Thearos on Jan 26th, 2010 at 6:01am
"Auel (pronounced "bonk")" is a sentence a remember from the Private Eye review. Also something, i think, about Ayla's lover having the skilled fingers of a flint knapper. Yep.

Title: Re: Jean M. Auel's "Earth's Children" novels.
Post by David Morningstar on Jan 26th, 2010 at 10:02am

I am not convinced by this modern revisionism that says Neanderthals were as smart as us. Their tools and lifestyles showed almost no development over the vast ~100,000 year timespan they were here for. By our standards they were riding the short mammoth to school.

Title: Re: Jean M. Auel's "Earth's Children" novels.
Post by Fundibularius on Jan 26th, 2010 at 2:31pm
I think we had that discussion already a few months ago. No idea which hints might lead to the conclusion that Neanderthals were more advanced than H. sapiens. Most of the paintings in caves or rock engravings as well as musical instruments, specialised flint tools, decorated antlers, tusks etc are from the time after 28.000 yrs ago, when Neanderthals had long passed away.

As for Ayla: I read two of the novels a number of years ago (the 2nd and the 3rd, I guess), and at the time found them ok in the research of the prehistoric background. But the plot was not credible in many parts (domestication of horses and other animals???) and, even worse, BORING, including the countless and interminable xxx scenes.

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