How well would a human survive in prehistoric times?

Factual Questions
41

Personally, with the time I’ve been going through right now I’d prefer living in the time of the dinosaurs. Me, Myself and I…shit, how easy can it get? Once every 5 years I’d have to trap me one of those big 'ol brontosaurous mother*%$#@s, tan the hide and make some jerky. I mean, c’mon…if I can’t dig a big 'ol dinosaur pit within 5 years…I truly suck. Hell, I could live inside the carcass for a few months.

Now, if I just happened to be travelling along the road minding my own business and one of them Tyrannysaurus(sic) Rex’s(non sic) came upon me and I couldn’t get to my BrontoShelter([sub]tm[/sub]) I’d make that barking sound like Dino. The predator would surely know that I mean no harm. (Hanna-Barbara would never steer me wrong).

Heck men in the bible lived hundreds of years…My guess is that the further you go back, the longer you live. In fact, has anyone seen my whalebone keychain? I lost it a few millenia ago. :wink:

42

Neither one, just anecdotes and conventional hiking/camping in rough terrain wisdom, if there be such a thing. The two weeks figure is very much anally extracted. I just mean that as days progress into weeks a search generally becomes less for you and more for your body. Often I’m sure someone will last for a good while longer, but people are also sometimes dead within 24 hours. Generally exposure to the elements is usually the earliest killer, either through heatstroke or hypothermia. Dehydration is usually next, then hunger. A see a lot of death through falls reported as well, but a good number of those come about from sport rock climbing, so I have no guess as to that one.

43

Does anyone remember this publicity stunt back in the 1930s? A chap billed himself as the “Nature Man” or some such epithet and set out to prove himself as a real-life Tarzan, disappearing into a California national forest equipped with nothing but a loincloth and surviving off the wilderness for several weeks. Apparently he was a success at it.

I think also a would-be “Jane” set out to prove that “Nature Woman” could hack it too, and she went forth into the national forest in her loincloth (and presumably some sort of animal-skin brassière), eventually to rendezvous with “Nature Man.” Mmm, what a romance that must have been. Johnny Weismuller, eat your heart out.

In the news today: The Justice Department decided not to press charges against the woman who set the worst wildfire in Arizona’s history that destroyed hundreds of thousands of acres. She only set it because she had been lost in the wilderness for two days and was trying to alert a helicopter to rescue her. It was, after all, to save her life; no criminal intent. It’s understandable, however tragic for the forest. No “Jane” she.

<Jomo excuses himself to go climb a tree and pound his chest>

44

I was on the beach today, and my husband asked if algae/seaweed was still good for anything. I said that if I were stranded on a deserted beach, I could eat the seaweed/algae/kelp for vitamins and minerals, but if it didn’t ever rain enough, that I’d have to somehow make a way to distill the salt water so I could drink it. OK - so say I have homemade ‘distilled’ water, algae, kelp, and seaweed.

First, would I have to use some of the distilled water to rinse the seaweed/algae/kelp before I ate it, and

Second, how long would I survive eating just seaweed/algae/kelp?

The year is 2002-03; I am stranded alone, and I have figured out a way to get drinking water from sea water (just pretend, ok??!!) So, what’re my chances?:confused:

45

Slim to nil. You are better off sucking liquids out of fish eyes and drinking coconut milk. Barring that, a solar still is your best chance.

As to the OP, the chances are quite good if you end up on a tropical island with:

  • no predators
  • edible plants
  • source of sweet water
  • good fishing ground

Your chances drop sharply as your environment removes further from the ideal.

I am not afraid of the microbes they have there, it is our microbes that can wipe out entire species back then.

46

Very useful tools can be made by chipping flakes from stones like shale. Such chips can be made finer than a surgeon’s scalpel.
Stuff on stone tools

In “Cast Away”, Tom Hanks’ character at first spends a lot of time trying to open a coconut by smashing it with a rock, scraping against a rock… only to get a small bit of milk from it for all his effort. Then a FedEx package with brand new ice skates washes ashore and he’s set with all the tools he needs.

As for obtaining drinking water from sea-water, I suppose you could boil the water and somehow distill the fresh water off. But you’d be better off making something that catches rainwater and drains into a basin.

47

Man, that show was cheezy to the max!

Too…many…jokes…

48

Primitive man did not live long, just long enough to pass on his genes. So you need a set up like the lions’. Bring 50 females, try to pass along as many genes as you can, meanwhile have the females hunt - that’s what your genetic instructions would advise.

49

Ewwwwww. You can suck the liquid out of fish eyes and live to tell about it? gagsputterspew To how many fish eyes would I have to do this in order to survive?

50

If you look at the contestants a show like “Survivor” as an example, you might not fare so well. Most of them have little survival skills and are chosen more to represent some sort of cross-section of society. Even when they are put right next to a food and water source, they lose a lot of weight and energy. Most of their day is spent lying around since they don’t have the energy to do much else. I don’t know if any of the teams have ever managed to start fire with just natural means. They all ended up using lenses, flint, or pre-lit torches. Sometimes they have had to make shelters, but they have used axes or machetes to do the chopping. And it’s rare that they caught any sort of animal to eat. So even though they have a big incentive to remain energetic, many of them have a hard time doing so even in an “ideal” survival situation. If they were in a poorer location, I have a feeling most would die.

51

As someone who’s spent a large portion of his life training for just such an event, I’d like to interject a few points.

The one that’s really itching me is everyone talking about hunting large animals with spears and such. You’ve been watching too many movies. As many above have stated, it’s our intellect that got us this far. Humans are woefully inadequate when it comes to physical confrontations with even herbivores, much less predators.

Research shows that prehistoric man had a number of rather effective methods for killing large animals. If you have 50 people, you can simply walk one to death. Wild animals live on a fairly slim margin of reserve energy. A large group of people can simply surround an animal (not close-up, I’m talking spacing out several hundred yards apart, forming a circle that could encompass up to a square mile or so). Then, what you do is trade off on keeping the animal moving. You don’t get close enough to provoke an actual confrontation, you simply keep it on it’s feet, prevent it from taking time to eat or drink, and eventually (may take 24 hours or so), it’ll drop over from exhaustion. If it doesn’t die outright, then all of you can gang up and finish the job with large rocks or your little spears.

If you’re really industrious, digging a pit works the same way, but I’d rather chase than dig.

They also had a REALLY neat little tool/weapon called an Atlatl (that’s what we call it, they probably called it an “ugh” or something). It’s fairly easy to make. It consists of three parts, a spearhead-kinda thing, basically a sharp point mounted on a hollowed-out shaft, a regular spear-type shaft about 2-3 fet long, and a launcher (for lack of a better word) that’s a handle with a cradle carved on top of it.

You put the head onto the shaft. Place the whole thing into the launcher, and approach your target animal. You use the handle to “throw” the spear-assembly at the animal. When it sticks (doesn’t happen every time) you run up and pull the shaft out. The head stays embedded in the animal. Repeat the process until the animal has sprung so many leaks that it dies. The idea behind this is a) you only need one launcher and one shaft per person, many arrowheads, this system cuts down on the carving and b) many people throwing many arrowheads at one animal can produce an un-survivable number of small wounds in a short time and c) this helps accelerate the chasing process described above plus is a better alternative to a head-to-head confrontation, which you would not survive. The idea is for each person to run up, wound it, and run away quickly.

I’d say your chances depend almost solely on the latitude at which you are dropped. If you have to spend a large portion of your time fighting the environment, you won’t have enough time to hunt and the odds will defeat you despite training or lack thereof. Remember, humans expanded into new territories, usually slowly, taking with them tools and supplies. Naked humans only survive well at tropical latitudes.

There is an excellent series on this subject by Piers Anthony. It’s filled with fictional anecdotes based on real research. It’s called “Geodyssey”. Some volumes are out of print, but search Amazon, they should have most of them.

52

Good points Metalheal. I can’t say I’ve trained for such a possibility but I can start a fire without matches and I’m good with a bow (hobby). If I had the time and the raw materials I’d make myself a bow (not easy at all, it’ll literally take years to perfect). But I’d be in a much better position to shoot small game / fish.

Also, caves are a bad idea if you want to sleep in one. Bears and large cats like caves. I’d stick to living in a tree (tied to a branch). Easy to defend from say, a climbing cat, because their main weapons (claws) are being used to hold it to the tree.

50 people makes it easier. Like Metalheal said, that many people would scare many animals (if you all had sticks/rocks/whatever). Metalheal’s trick works on Rhinos (watching discovery channel) as the animal has a heart attack if you chase it for a while (of course it HELPS that you have a nice landrover and a few shotguns in case the rhino attacks you).

I’d bet 40/60 against that you don’t all die for the first year.

53

Err, sorry about that, I didn’t realize that’s METALHEAD (that last bracket didn’t register in my brain).

54

Yes, I would strongly second badmana’s point on staying clear of caves. Small ones are likely to be home to animals (I’d be most worried about rattlesnakes in my area) and large ones are a danger in and of themselves.

I also agree on the first year being key. I think you’re being generous with the odds, but at any rate if you survive a year then you’d be likely to be able to live out a somewhat shortened but otherwise normal lifespan.

55

Well, let us assume that your group would survive TODAY in such a situation (which is what I think our OP posits). If so, then the big question is if the local large carnivores are going to see you as food or not. See- humans now are not seen as food by most predators (sure, bears will occ maul, there are the few rare maneating lions, but in general, we are not food). If the Raptors, etc see you as food- without modern weapons (see “A Gun for Dinosaur”)- you are lunch.

If they pretty much ignore you as a food source (my guess- but I’d stay out of their way in any case), then you’d be OK. True, the vegetable food would not be as easily recognizable, but the hunting would be great. (There were lots of small dinos & such to act as prey for us humans).

Filmore- in Survivor- most of the animals are “off limits” for food. I haven’t seen one where the local lizards, etc are allowed as lunch, and that by itself cuts off a major food source. In Outback, they were allowed to hunt only introduced “varmits”, and in the first- only rats. In Africa, the usual game animals were all off limits.

56

anyone reading this can survive in the Cretaceous period ( is that the one with the plants?). But I dont think it is possible to survive if you naked in a new place with nothing. Id say if you have about 5 liters of water, at least 5 pounds of food, a knife or a hatchet, and at least a shirt and pants/shorts, you should be more then fine.

here is a little guide to surviving in the wild.

Water is the most important, find water first. We all know what water smells like especially when we need it. Once you find it you must check for other animal tracks, if there are a lot, it is probably a watering hole, on one hand it means that the water is safe to drink, and on the other it means you will have company. You can survive using the watering hole if you find the times other animals use it, and then just filling your five liters of water with that. You can always go looking for other sources of fresh water, but if there are no tracks then it either means other animals know its not healthy, or it hasnt been found. You can take you pick at which you find safer.
If you are lucky enough to be stranded near sea water and fresh water, then you can just wait for the sea water to evaporate leaving the salt, the salt will come in handy when you start eating meat.

Look for shelter, if possible find a cave. I think limestone caves are usually best. But caves can be death traps, make sure to be very cautious when looking for a cave. If you can not find a cave then look for trees that can at least for a while be used to sleep in. Keep in mind that you should always be near water. If worse comes to worse, and it is your last choice, then build a small shelter somewhere on the ground.

now that you have water and shelter, you can start hunting animals. not to eat, but see what the animals eat. If you trail a large enough carnivore ( but not large enough that you cant kill), then it might leave some of its kill, you can probably it some of it. Whatever the carnivore eats, then you should be able to eat as well. You should also watch what it is afraid of, or what it stays away from. For the most part it should leave you alone, since you are the only human, then it doesnt have any reason to fear you or not to fear you. If you find salt then you should only have to hunt every two days. If you dont, then you will probably have to hunt every other day. If you plan to eat vegetables do the same thing, just trail a herbavore.

Always remember that you are not trying to conquer the wild, your trying to survive in it.

Now you should hopefully have food, water, and shelter. These are just the basics to surviving on your own in the Cretaceous Period. The guide changes and might be useless if; there is more then one person, you plan to colonize a permanent settlement, and/or your meaning to survive for a fixed amount of time. All humans are born to survive, so even if you dont follow my guide, then you should still have a pretty good chance if your inner caveman comes out.

57

then it might leave some of its kill, you can probably it some of it

thats supposed to be

you can probably eat some of it

58

This would make a good interactive game or challenge.

I’m “it”. You’re in charge of the environment. We’ve described the overall idea.

I say, “OK, here I am starko. I look around and what do I see?”

You say: "You see rolling hills with some streams. It is not deep forest, it is mostly open with clumps of trees and lines of trees along the streams. Otherwise the hillsides are grassy [if we’re placing it after the angiosperms] or with some low groundcover [if before]. It looks as if you are in a temperate climate in late spring.
“You see some critters far off grazing, and some birds and insects; so far no visible predators.”

I: “OK, I look around me and absorb as much as I can. I decide to go down to the nearest stream. Down there I find some miscellaneous driftwood and rocks. What is the geology of the rocks? Do I get to find mostly limestone with some flint or agate/chert/quartz and maybe some granite chunks brought down from the mountains?”

You: “OK we’ll allow that.”

I: “Good. I gather a bunch of the quartz-type rocks and put one on top of a big granite rock, and I get another granite one that’s the size to pick up in both hands, and I pound the quartz to bust it. I repeat with the others till I have a selection of sharp-edged pieces. I pick out the ones I like the best.
Now I go get some grass or other fibrous plant material, and start twisting it to make twine. I make up a few yards of twine.
I make a belt, and maybe a loop over my shoulder. The plan is to make pockets. For starters I can tie my favorite hand-axes to dangle from my belt. And, I get some good throwing-size rocks and tie them to have them handy, and maybe some driftwood.
Now I go to a sapling and bend it over and start sawing. It’s down, I peel off a couple of feet of bark in one piece and tie it with string with rocks inside for my first pocket–”

You: “Hey, you’re having too much your way. You look up and there’s a [sabre-tooth tiger][fanged dinosaur] sneaking up.”

I: If there’s a good climbing tree within reach, UP IT I GO! If not, I head out into the water, or start throwing rocks, or make a wierd noise and hold my stuff up to look bigger than I am and start toward the critter to see if he will bluff.

Your turn:

59

PS, I like the scenario with 50 people at least scattered around somewhere in the neighborhood, rather than just pure solitary.

…but I vote against the idea of 10 men, 40 women, because look what you get after five years. Best case is 10 men, 40 women, up to 160 snivellers age range from five years to newborns. 10 guys commuting between the hunting grounds and their reproductive duties which are aimed at producing yet more infants. The 40 women are all nursing infants and they’ve sorted out the age groups so you have a couple of women with each group of 10 four-year-olds, etc. They aren’t going to have a whole lot of time for other productivity.

I vote for the original group to be 50 healthy adults, no primiparas, about 50-50 mix.

60

**

[QUOTE]
Originally posted by teemingONE *
anyone reading this can survive in the Cretaceous period ( is that the one with the plants?). But I dont think it is possible to survive if you naked in a new place with nothing. Id say if you have about 5 liters of water, at least 5 pounds of food, a knife or a hatchet, and at least a shirt and pants/shorts, you should be more then fine.*

I don’t want this guy on my team, he’s gonna get dead real fast.

Look for shelter, if possible find a cave. I think limestone caves are usually best. But caves can be death traps, make sure to be very cautious when looking for a cave.

Caves are bad (watching too much TV) See reasons listed above.

now that you have water and shelter, you can start hunting animals. not to eat, but see what the animals eat. If you trail a large enough carnivore ( but not large enough that you cant kill), then it might leave some of its kill, you can probably it some of it.

I don’t get this part at all. Take North America for example. There are no animals here that qualify as large carnivores that you can kill barehanded or with a knife. What do we have? Wolves, bears, mountain lions, etc. You won’t be able to trail them because they are too fast and will vacate the area when they smell you. They’ll fight when cornered, guarding young, guarding food, and also at some unpredictable times if they feel threatened. Also carnivores (at least now, I really can’t say for the Cretaceous) see very well and in color. They will rip you a new one, especially if you try to steal their lunch.

So that leaves only small carnivores. I’m thinking bobcats, coyotes, foxes, etc. Their kills are so small (mice, birds, maybe a rabbit) that lesftovers won’t be much help, especially given the energy requirements you’ll have with all the work you’ll be doing.

You should also watch what it is afraid of, or what it stays away from. For the most part it should leave you alone, since you are the only human, then it doesnt have any reason to fear you or not to fear you.

If you’re watching it, then it’s gonna try to stay away from YOU. I feel pretty safe in saying that animals back then were like animals now. Wild animals are basically afraid of (more like “cautious of”, I’m not sure if it counts as fear) everything that’s not them or something they see so often as to begin to ignore it.
** If you find salt then you should only have to hunt every two days. If you dont, then you will probably have to hunt every other day. **

I’m not sure what you mean here. I think every two days and every other day is the same thing, but anyway, can we get a qualified medical opinion here? I wasn’t aware that the need for salt in humans was nearly this bad, unless you’re sweating constantly or something. It is a definite need, I’m not arguing that, but every other day? I know several vegetarians. They don’t get salt from meat, but I don’t see them having to make a concerted effort to get salt other places on any sort of scale like this. I’m more than willing to concede this point if someone can prove me wrong, I’d just like to see some factual backup on this one.

I don’t mean to attack you, but I think your post GROSSLY oversimplifies the issue and seems to communicate the feeling that it’d be no big deal. I stongly, but respectfully, disagree.