A comparison of the efficiencies of the shotgun and the bow in neotropical forest hunting

Whenever introduced into Amazonia and its neighboring regions, the shotgun has quickly replaced the bow and arrow and other aboriginal weapons of the hunt. The quick and widespread adoption of the shotgun is plainly a matter of its superiority over most aboriginal weapons. This paper compares the hunting efficiencies of the shotgun and the bow by means of a controlled field experiment among the Ye'kwana and Yanomamö Indians of the Upper Orinoco River of southern Venezuela. It also examines the impact of the shotgun on local animal populations and the economic changes brought about by the need to cash-crop in order to purchase Western hunting technology.Funds for the research and writing of this paper were made possible by an NIMH predoctoral fellowship to Napoleon A. Chagnon, Grant No. NIMH 5 R01 MH 26008-SSR.     

The Atlatl: The Physics of Function and Performance

Abstract

An examination of the physical laws behind the function and performance of the atlatl-both with and without weights-is presented. The increased distance a dart can be thrown with the atlatl is a function of the increased mechanical advantage which the atlatl provides by increasing the length of the moment arm. The location of weight on an atlatl is shown to produce a performance less than or equal to that achieved without a weight. It is proposed, although unproven, that the addition of a weight to an atlatl acts as a stabilizing device to reduce side to side oscillations and thereby providing greater control. The penetration of a projectile thrown with an atlatl is greater than that of one thrown by hand and about equal to that of an arrow shot from a bow.     

Addressing Prehistoric Hunting Practices Through Stone Tool Analysis

Although archeologists have approached prehistoric hunting practices by studying "projectile points," use-wear analyses of nine components spanning 7,500 years of prehistory in the Lower Illinois Valley have shown that this approach is not accurate. The projectile point type is only one of several kinds of lithic artifacts, including other retouched types and debitage, employed in antiquity to tip projectiles. Assemblage comparisons indicate an earlier adoption of bow and arrow technology than most prehistorians have been willing to accept.     

The Bow and Arrow in Northern North America

There were at least four waves of bow and arrow use in northern North America. These occurred at 12000, 4500, 2400, and after about 1300 years ago. But to understand the role of the bow and arrow in the north, one must begin in the eighteenth century, when the Russians first arrived in the Aleutian Islands. At that time, the Aleut were using both the atlatl and dart and the bow and arrow 1 (Fig. 1 ). This is significant for two particular and important reasons. First, there are few historic cases in which both technologies were used concurrently; second, the bow and arrow in the Aleutian Islands were used almost exclusively in warfare. The atlatl was a critical technology because the bow and arrow are useless for hunting sea mammals. One cannot launch an arrow from a kayak because it is too unstable and requires that both hands remain on a paddle. To use an atlatl, it is necessary only to stabilize the kayak with a paddle on one side and launch the atlatl dart with the opposite hand. The Aleut on the Alaska Peninsula did indeed use the bow and arrow to hunt caribou there. However, in the 1,400 km of the Aleutian Islands, there are no terrestrial mammals except humans and the bow was reserved almost exclusively for conflicts among them. The most significant event in the history of the bow and arrow is not its early introduction, but rather the Asian War Complex 1300 years ago, when the recurve and backed bows first entered the region, altering regional and hemispheric political dynamics forever.

Figure 1 Open in figure viewer PowerPoint Aleut male as shown in Liapunova 50 Figure 2, remastered and edited by Maschner. A) Atlatl and darts, B) the recurved bow, C) armor, and D) shield. Drawing by M. C. Levashov, 1764–1769, original in the Central State Archives of the Navy, Russia.

Citing Literature

Number of times cited: 9

• Todd J. Kristensen, Thomas D. Andrews, Glen MacKay, Ruth Gotthardt, Sean C. Lynch, M. John M. Duke, Andrew J. Locock and John W. Ives , Identifying and sourcing pyrometamorphic artifacts: Clinker in subarctic North America and the hunter-gatherer response to a Late Holocene volcanic eruption , Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports , 10.1016/j.jasrep.2018.11.039 , 23 , (773-790) , (2019) . Crossref
• Brigid Sky Grund and Snehalata V. Huzurbazar , RADIOCARBON DATING OF TECHNOLOGICAL TRANSITIONS: THE LATE HOLOCENE SHIFT FROM ATLATL TO BOW IN NORTHWESTERN SUBARCTIC CANADA , American Antiquity , 83 , 01 , (148) , (2018) . Crossref
• Brigid Sky Grund , Behavioral Ecology, Technology, and the Organization of Labor: How a Shift from Spear Thrower to Self Bow Exacerbates Social Disparities , American Anthropologist , 119 , 1 , (104-119) , (2017) . Wiley Online Library
• Anna Berge , Chapter 3. Subsistence terms in Unangam Tunuu (Aleut) , Language Dispersal Beyond Farming , 10.1075/z.215.03ber , (47-73) , (2017) . Crossref
• Matthew Walls and Lambros Malafouris , Creativity as a Developmental Ecology , The Palgrave Handbook of Creativity and Culture Research , 10.1057/978-1-137-46344-9_30 , (623-638) , (2017) . Crossref
• Adam N. Rorabaugh and Tiffany J. Fulkerson , TIMING OF THE INTRODUCTION OF ARROW TECHNOLOGIES IN THE SALISH SEA, NORTHWEST NORTH AMERICA , Lithic Technology , 40 , 1 , (21) , (2015) . Crossref
• Bill Angelbeck and Ian Cameron , The Faustian bargain of technological change: Evaluating the socioeconomic effects of the bow and arrow transition in the Coast Salish past , Journal of Anthropological Archaeology , 36 , (93) , (2014) . Crossref
• Paul M. Bingham, Joanne Souza and John H. Blitz , Introduction: Social Complexity and the Bow in the Prehistoric North American Record , "Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews" , 22 , 3 , (81-88) , (2013) . Wiley Online Library
• Paul M. Bingham and Joanne Souza , Theory Testing in Prehistoric North America: Fruits of One of the World's Great Archeological Natural Laboratories , "Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews" , 22 , 3 , (145-153) , (2013) . Wiley Online Library

Volume 22 , Issue 3 May/June 2013

Pages 133-138     

Sedentism,Social Change,Warfare, and the Bow in the Ancient Pueblo Southwest

In the ancient American Southwest, use of the bow developed relatively rapidly among Pueblo people by the fifth century AD. This new technology replaced the millennia‐old atlatl and dart weaponry system. Roughly 150 years later in the AD 600s, Pueblo socioeconomic organization began to evolve rapidly, as many groups adopted a much more sedentary life. Multiple factors converged to allow this sedentary pattern to emerge, but the role of the bow in this process has not been fully explored. In this paper, we trace the development of the bow and discuss its role as sedentism emerged and social changes occurred in ancient Puebloan society from the fifth through seventh centuries AD.     

The Bow and Spreadnet: Ecological Origins of Hunting Technology

Mbuti bands in eastern Zaire differ in their hunting use of the spreadnet and the bow, a variation previously attributed to historical contacts with different non-Mbuti groups, population pressure, and differences in the floral diversity and abundance of the Ituri Forest. None of these factors, however, adequately explains a similar differentiation in the Sepik Basin of Papua New Guinea. Instead, the Sepik data indicate that the net and the bow may spread through historical contact and diffusion, but their adoption or rejection is ultimately determined by a conjunction of their technological properties and the horizontal and vertical densities of environmental vegetation. From this perspective, the essential determinants of Mbuti spreadnet and bow use may be spatial variations in the physiognomy of the Ituri.     

Beetle and plant arrow poisons of the Ju|’hoan and Hai||om San peoples of Namibia (Insecta,Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae; Plantae,Anacardiaceae, Apocynaceae,Burseraceae)

The use of archery to hunt appears relatively late in human history. It is poorly understood but the application of poisons to arrows to increase lethality must have occurred shortly after developing bow hunting methods; these early multi-stage transitions represent cognitive shifts in human evolution. This paper is a synthesis of widely-scattered literature in anthropology, entomology, and chemistry, dealing with San (“Bushmen”) arrow poisons. The term San (or Khoisan) covers many indigenous groups using so-called ‘click languages’ in southern Africa. Beetles are used for arrow poison by at least eight San groups and one non-San group. Fieldwork and interviews with Ju|’hoan and Hai||om hunters in Namibia revealed major differences in the nature and preparation of arrow poisons, bow and arrow construction, and poison antidote. Ju|’hoan hunters use leaf-beetle larvae of Diamphidia Gerstaecker and Polyclada Chevrolat (Chrysomelidae: Galerucinae: Alticini) collected from soil around the host plants Commiphora africana (A. Rich.) Engl. and Commiphora angolensis Engl. (Burseracaeae). In the Nyae Nyae area of Namibia, Ju|’hoan hunters use larvae of Diamphidia nigroornata Ståhl. Larvae and adults live above-ground on the plants and eat leaves, but the San collect the underground cocoons to extract the mature larvae. Larval hemolymph is mixed with saliva and applied to arrows. Hai||om hunters boil the milky plant sap of Adenium bohemianum Schinz (Apocynaceae) to reduce it to a thick paste that is applied to their arrows. The socio-cultural, historical, and ecological contexts of the various San groups may determine differences in the sources and preparation of poisons, bow and arrow technology, hunting behaviors, poison potency, and perhaps antidotes.     

Sociopolitical Complexity and the Bow and Arrow in the American Southwest

The evolution of sociopolitical complexity, including heightened relations of cooperation and competition among large nonkin groups, has long been a central focus of anthropological research. 1 , 2 Anthropologists suggest any number of variables that affect the waxing and waning of complexity and define the precise trajectories that groups take, including population density, subsistence strategies, warfare, the distribution of resources, and trade relationships. 3 , 4 Changes in weaponry, here the introduction of the bow and arrow, can have profound implications for population aggregation and density, subsistence and settlement strategies, and access to resources, trade, and warfare. 5 Bingham and Souza provide a general conceptual model for the relationship between complexity and the bow and arrow, arguing that this compound weapon system, whereby smaller projectiles travel at higher speed and are capable of hitting targets more accurately and at greater distances than hand‐thrown darts, fundamentally favors the formation of larger groups because it allows for cost‐effective means of dealing with conflicts of interest through social coercion, thereby dramatically transforming kin‐based social relations. 6 Here we consider the impacts the introduction of the bow and arrow had on sociopolitical complexity in the North American Southwest.     

Grooved Stones from Zawi Chemi Shanidar, a Protoneolithic Site in Northern Iraq

Grooved stones appear as a new cultural element in Epipaleolithic-Protoneolithic sites (dating from ca. 9000–6000 B.C.) in a broad geographic zone from Southwest Asia to North Africa. Similar objects have been recorded from archeological and ethnographic contexts in both the Old World and the New World. Ethnographic and other evidence has shown that the several types of grooved stones are associated with a variety of functions, mainly related to the manufacture and use of arrows and arrow shafts. It is suggested that these tools may be associated with the discovery and diffusion of the bow and arrow .     

Sociopolitical Effects of Bow and Arrow Technology in Prehistoric Coastal California

Bow and arrow technology spread across California between ～AD 250 and 1200, first appearing in the intermountain deserts of the Great Basin and later spreading to the coast. We critically evaluate the available data for the initial spread in bow and arrow technology and examine its societal effects on the well‐studied Northern Channel Islands off the coast of Southern California. The introduction of this technology to these islands between AD 650 and 900 appears to predate the appearance of hereditary inequality between AD 900 and 1300. We conclude, based on the available data, that this technology did not immediately trigger intergroup warfare. We argue that the introduction of the bow and arrow contributed to sociopolitical instabilities that were on the rise within the context of increasing population levels and unstable climatic conditions, which stimulated intergroup conflict and favored the development of hereditary inequality. Population aggregation and economic intensification did occur with the introduction of the bow and arrow. This observation is consistent with the hypothesis that social coercion via intra‐group “law enforcement” contributed to changes in societal scale that ultimately resulted in larger groups that were favored in inter‐group conflict. We argue that the interplay between intra‐group “law enforcement” and inter‐group warfare were both essential for the ultimate emergence of social inequality between AD 900 and 1300.     

Natural toxins in inter- and intraspecies interaction of human being (elements of ethnotoxinology)

The author considers the application of natural toxins as arrow poison by Homo sapiens from ancient time till today for hunting and ethnic wars on the example of natives of Asia, Africa, South America and Oceania. Geographic isolation was important determining the spectrum of natural toxin sources and the methods of their application. Cellular and molecular mechanisms of arrow poisons effects are considered in biogeographical context: aconitin and strychnin in Asia, diamphotoxin in Africa, indole alcaloids of plants and steroid alcaloids of amphibian in Central and South America, palytoxin in Oceania islands. High efficiency and selective effect of natural toxins allow to use them as molecular markers in current studies of functional membrane architecture and cellular structures. Great differences in pace of civilization development leads to the co-existence at the beginning of the XXI century ethnic groups that use natural toxins as arrow poison and human beings that use the same toxins in fundamental and applied investigations within international scientific society.     

Illustrating cerebral function: the iconography of arrows

For over a century the arrow has appeared in illustrations of cerebral function, yet the implications of using such symbols have not been previously considered. This review seeks to outline the nature, evolution, applications and limitations of this deceptively simple graphic device when it is used to picture functions of the brain. The arrow is found to have been used in several different ways: as a means of endowing anatomical structures with functional properties; as a method of displaying neural function either in free-standing form or in a structural or spatial framework; as a device for correlating functional data with underlying brain topography; and as a technique for linking functions of the brain with the world outside and with various philosophical concepts. For many of these uses the essential feature of the arrow is its directional characteristic. In contrast to the line, it is direction that enables the arrow to display information about time, which in turn can be exploited to depict functional rather than structural data. However, the use of the arrow is fraught with difficulties. It is often unclear whether an arrow has been used to illustrate fact, hypothesis, impression or possibility, or merely to provide a decorative flourish. Furthermore, the powerful symbolic nature of the arrow can so easily confer a spurious validity on the conjectural. Increasingly now there are insuperable difficulties when attempting to illustrate complex mechanisms of brain function. In the iconography of cerebral function, therefore, arrows with all their ambiguities may in certain circumstances become superseded by more non-representational symbols such as the abstract devices of the computational neuroscientist.     

Changes in long bone diaphyseal strength with horticultural intensification in west-central Illinois

This study examines changes in long bone diaphyseal strength in west-central Illinois from the Middle Woodland through the Mississippian periods. Significant differences occur between the Middle Woodland and the Late Woodland periods, at the time when use of native seed crops intensifies. In females, both humeral and femoral strength increases, which may be related to their role in growing and processing these crops. In males, right arm strength declines, which may be tied in part to the replacement of the atlatl by the bow. Fewer significant changes occur between the earlier and later Late Woodland periods, at the time when maize is introduced as a dietary staple, possibly because maize is at first grown as only one of a series of other starchy seeds. Finally, in the Mississippian period, when maize use intensifies, female left arm strength declines. This may be because maize is easier to process than native seeds, or it may reflect innovations in processing technology in the Mississippian period. External dimensions and shape indices, in part, reflect the trends seen in biomechanical strength. Comparisons are made to similar studies in other regions.     

Analysis of "Teno-uchi" maneuver in releasing Japanese-style bows based on muscle activities and forces acting on the bow

Since a Japanese-style bow has a very complicated shape and structure, an archer has to apply the "Teno-uchi" maneuver including horizontally twisting torque, or "Nejiri", and sagittally down-pushing torque, or "Uwa-oshi", to the restoring bow in order to hit the target. The purpose of this study was to investigate the biomechanical relationship between the muscular activities of the left forearm and the operation of "Teno-uchi" maneuver. Surface EMG of left forearm muscles and the two kinds of torque acting on the bow around the time of release were recorded in 10 experienced subjects during arrow shooting. The "Biku", an involuntary resignation from release happening in the shooting, was also examined. Close analyses of the results revealed that activation of the extensor carpi ulnaris and extensor digitorum muscles together with inhibition of the flexor carpi ulnaris muscle brought about "Nejiri", while activation of the extensor carpi ulnaris as well as flexor carpi ulnaris muscles and inhibition of the extensor carpi redialis longus and extensor digitorum muscles gave rise to "Uwa-oshi", thus causing activities of trade-off nature in the extensor digitorum and flexor carpi ulnaris muscles for the "Nejiri" and "Uwa-oshi. The trade-off activities were presumably actualized through time-sharing coordination between the muscles.     

Identity-Driven Differences in Stakeholder Concerns about Hunting Wolves

Whereas past wolf management in the United States was restricted to recovery, managers must now contend with publicly contentious post-recovery issues including regulated hunting seasons. Understanding stakeholder concerns associated with hunting can inform stakeholder engagement, communication, and policy development and evaluation. Social identity theory (SIT) has been used to understand how groups interact, why they conflict, and how collaboration may be achieved. Applying SIT to stakeholder conflicts about wolf hunting may help delineate groups according to their concern about, support for or opposition to the policy choice of hunting wolves. Our objective was to assess concerns about hunting as a tool to resolve conflict in Michigan, using SIT as a framework. We used a mixed-modal sampling approach (e.g., paper, Internet) with wolf hunting-related public meeting participants in March 2013. Survey questions focused on 12 concerns previously identified as associated with hunting as a management tool to resolve conflict. Respondents (n  =  666) cared greatly about wolves but were divided over hunting wolves. Wolf conflicts, use of science in policy decisions, and maintaining a wolf population were the highest ranked concerns. Principle components analysis reduced concerns into three factors that explained 50.7% of total variance; concerns crystallized over justifications for hunting. General linear models revealed a lack of geographic influence on care, fear and support for hunting related to wolves. These findings challenge assumptions about regional differences and suggest a strong role for social identity in driving dichotomized public perceptions in wildlife management.     

Sexual dimorphism in relation to big-game hunting and economy in modern human populations

Postcranial skeletal data from two recent Eskimo populations are used to test David Frayer's model of sexual dimorphism reduction in Europe between the Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic. Frayer argued that a change from big-game hunting and adoption of new technology in the Mesolithic reduced selection for large body size in males and led to a reduction in skeletal sexual dimorphism. Though aspects of Frayer's work have been criticized in the literature, the association of big-game hunting and high sexual dimorphism is untested. This study employs univariate and multivariate analysis to test that association by examining sexual dimorphism of cranial and postcranial bones of two recent Alaskan Eskimo populations, one being big-game (whale and other large marine mammal) hunting people, and the second being salmon fishing, riverine people. While big-game hunting influences skeletal robusticity, it cannot be said to lead to greater sexual dimorphism generally. The two populations had different relative sexual dimorphism levels for different parts of the body. Notably, the big-game hunting (whaling) Eskimos had the lower multivariate dimorphism in the humerus, which could be expected to be the structure under greatest exertion by such hunting in males. While the exertions of the whale hunting economic activities led to high skeletal robusticity, as predicted by Frayer's model, this was true of the females as well as the males, resulting in low sexual dimorphism in some features. Females are half the sexual dimorphism equation, and they cannot be seen as constants in any model of economic behavior. © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Net hunters vs. archers: Variation in women's subsistence strategies in the Ituri Forest

BaMbuti of the Ituri Forest, Zaire, employ two primary hunting techniques: net hunting, in which women routinely participate, and bow hunting, in which women rarely participate. We hypothesize that the value of women's labor devoted to different subsistence activities, combined with the exchange value of meat, will determine whether women participate in hunts. Field observations were conducted in four different areas: two exploited by archers and two by net hunters. Results indicate that women in nethunting areas earn more calories per unit time by hunting than by working in agriculturalists' gardens; whereas women in archer areas earn more calories by working for agriculturalists than by hunting. We found no significant difference in the composition or diversity of the forests exploited by net hunters and archers. The results are discussed in light of the longstanding debate concerning the factors that account for distribution of net hunting and archery in the Ituri Forest.     

Effects of hunting on the behaviour and spatial distribution of farmland birds: importance of hunting-free refuges in agricultural areas

Hunting is one of the human activities that directly affect wildlife and has received increasing attention given its socioeconomic dimensions. Most studies have been conducted on coastal and wetland areas and showed that hunting activity can greatly affect bird behaviour and distribution. Hunting-free reserves for game species are zones where birds find an area of reduced disturbance. We evaluated the effect of hunting activities on the behaviour and use of hunting-free areas of lapwings Vanellus vanellus , golden plovers Pluvialis apricaria and little bustards Tetrax tetrax in agricultural areas. We compared the habitat use and behaviour of birds on days before, during and after hunting took place. All three studied species showed strong behavioural responses to hunting activities. Hunting activity increased flight probability and time spent vigilant (higher on hunting days than just before and after a hunting day), to the detriment of resting. We also found distributional (use of hunting-free reserve) responses to hunting activities, with hunting-free reserves being used more frequently during hunting days. Thus, reserves can mitigate the disturbance caused by hunting activities, benefiting threatened species in agricultural areas. Increasing the size or number of hunting-free areas might be an important management and conservation tool to reduce the impacts of hunting activities.     

Conformational and structural analysis of the equilibrium between single- and double-strand beta-helix of a D,L-alternating oligonorleucine

Alternating sequences of D and L residues in peptides are directly related to the formation of several kinds of regular helical conformations usually called beta-helices. The major feature of these structures is that they can be associated with the transmembrane ion-conducting channel activity in some natural antibacterial peptides. The study of alternating D,L synthetic peptides is critical to understand how factors such as surrounding media, main chain length, type of side chain and terminal groups, among others, can determine the adoption of a specific kind of beta-helix. Early studies pointed out that the peptides Boc-(D-NLeu-L-NLeu)(6)-D-MeNLe-L-Nl-D-Nl-L-Nl-OMe (Boc: tert-butyloxycarbonyl) and Boc-L-Nle-(D-Nle-L-Nle)(5)-D-MeNle-L-Nle-D-Nle-L-Nle-OMe adopt in chloroform a unique detectable conformation single beta(4.4)- and double beta(5.6) upward arrow downward arrow -helix, respectively. The influence of terminal groups on the final stable conformation of N-formylated peptides has been studied in this work. The initial basic NMR data analysis of a synthetic alternating D,L-oligopeptide with ten norleucines, N-methylated on the residue 7 and having HCO- and -OMe as terminal groups clearly indicates the coexistence of two different conformations in equilibrium. NMR data and molecular dynamics calculations point to a dimeric antiparallel beta-helix structure beta(5.6) upward arrow downward arrow for the main conformation. On the other hand, NMR data suggest a single beta-helix structure beta(4.4) for the second conformation. Finally, a thermodynamic analysis of the equilibrium between both conformations has been carried out by one-dimensional NMR measurements at ten different temperatures. The temperature at which 50% of dimer conformation is dissociated is 319 K. In addition, the dimer-monomer equilibrium curve obtained shows a DeltaG>0 for the whole range of studied temperatures, and its behavior can be considered similar to the thermodynamic denaturation protein processes.     

When hunting benefits raptors: a case study of game species and vultures

Management of hunting activity to serve as a tool for sustainable development has become a key issue in conservation biology. However, little evidence is available showing positive impacts of hunting on ecosystem conservation, limiting its capability to be used as a conservation tool. We analysed hunting and its positive influence on the ecology and conservation of the griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus), a scavenger with a relevant function in the ecosystem, in the Cantabrian Mountains, NW Spain. Use of the area by vultures was addressed by looking for cliffs used as roosts or colonies, and consumption of game species by vultures was evaluated through field surveys and questionnaires to hunters. Results revealed a strong spatiotemporal adjustment in the use of the area by vultures and hunting events, especially of red deer and wild boar. Vultures occupied roosting sites very close to the main hunting sectors of these game species and often were seen consuming their carcasses. The spatiotemporal pattern of roost use by vultures strongly overlapped with hunting of red deer. The numbers of both red deer and wild boar hunting episodes within 3.5 km around the roosts were the best predictors of vulture occurrence and number. Our estimates show that hunting could feed around 1,800 vultures/6 months. Hunting can thus influence species at the top of the ecosystem (scavengers) and could aid sustainable management of griffon vulture populations, reconciling hunting and conservation. However, negative and positive impacts should be taken into account simultaneously for an overall evaluation of hunting on ecosystem conservation.