How Hunter-Gatherers Have Learned to Hunt : Transmission of Hunting Methods and Techniques among the Central Kalahari San (Natural History of Communication among the Central Kalahari San)

Abstract

In order to theorize about how hunting methods evolved around the time Neanderthals was being replaced by anatomically modern Homo sapiens (AMH), the hunting methods used by the San people-hunter-gatherers in the modern ageâ were studied in detail. As a result, it became clear that the San use a wide variety of methods to hunt small mammals and birds, in addition to using bows and spears to hunt large animals. It was also discovered that hunters included not only adult men, but also boys and adult women; boys in particular begin learning skills related to hunting and â reading natureâ at the age of four or five. Taking an interest in animals and reading their minds through careful observationâ an ability unique to modern humans who are the only animals to possess this facultyâ can be traced all the way back to the origins of the Homo sapiens. The humanâ animal relationship is deeply connected to human evolution, in the sense that it prompted a change in humansâ cognitive abilities.