Now this is NOT a good video. He's too low down,
his spear is too long, he's not sitting in a tree,
really, but a cross beam that he built...

I originally found a better video, a more realistic
one, a video that better replicated conditions that
archaic humans would have been laboring under
but that video seems to have been taken down.

What the video gets right though is the long blade.

You want a long blade. You want the spear shaft
to operate as a lever, working the blade laterally
into the animal, creating a massive wound. The
longer the blade, the wider the cut.

But don't watch this video if you're squeamish. A
bear is killed. There's lots of blood. The hunter
lifts up the dead animal's forelimb to reveal the
wound. None of this is attractive.

Here's the video:

https://youtu.be/mV_hIBczcpo?t=156

If you do watch it then take not of two things:

#1. The spear shaft strikes the platform, the
cross bar the man put up to sit on. This would
have been an extremely effective way to get
the lever action going, slicing up it's innards.

In Neanderthal times, tree branches and
undergrowth would have performed this function.

#2. It takes 13 seconds for the animal to die.

Could you imagine trying to trek a frightened
animal through a mile of virgin wilderness? I
mean, before some other predators find it?

It dies quickly, close by and with a lot of blood
to follow. This isn't just good for finding it
where it drops but staying alive if it doesn't
drop. Sometimes animals such as bears but
definitely wild boar won't run away but will
try to attack the hunter! The quicker it dies
the smaller the window of danger is open.

If the bear came at him, he only needed to
evade it for 13 seconds!

But, this is why throwing spears vanish.

...and one other reason but that's for
another post.





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