Dependancy on physical relics for explanation is the curse of paleontology.

There's no relic of the brain except the size of the skull. There are also few or no relics of family organization, social organization, linguistic capacity, methods of cultural transmission, etc. So agreeing that the bow and arrow (difficult to invent, difficult to produce, difficult to use effectively) made expansion possible, what made the bow possible?

IQ had something to do with it, but I think that IQ developed in mutual feedback with forms of organization and cultural transmission. There's a limit to how smart non-social, non-linguistic animals can be, and certain specific social forms favor IQ.

While reading the article I noticed a link on the same webpage in the Independent to an interesting article-

A short history
Anglo-Jewry, 1656-2006

http://news.independent.co.uk/ uk...ticle878482.ece


A short history of Anglo-Jewry: The Jews in Britain, 1656-2006
Jews were banned from this country for three centuries, until Oliver Cromwell allowed their return. Today, a ceremony in London celebrates that decision 350 years ago, and the key role they have played ever since. Paul Vallely reports
Published: 13 June 2006

Does anyone know in which journal Mellars new article is being published?

"Jews were banned from this country for three centuries, until Oliver Cromwell allowed their return." The version I read was a little more interesting. Cromwell ordered an investigation and was told that the expulsion of Jews from England in 12-something applied only to those actual individuals, and so there was nothing illegal about Jews living in England. He then announced this and invited Jews to enter, thus establishing England and her North American colonies as a good place for Jews to live. Anyone know if this version is accurate?

There was a similar report in my Telegraph this morning, but I can't find it in the electronic version. Would someone more competent like to try?

Amazing how this thread became another "Jew" story.

Jews invented the bow and arrow around 60,000 BC. That's why.

I've always thought that cupid invented the arrow. I saw a lot of photos of them holding the bow and arrow, everywhere.

I've a question, does anyone know if the bow was invented first, as a way to light fires - where you loop the bow string around a thin peg and saw it back and forth, to rotate the peg in block of wood, till you get a friction heat induced fire going - and later was used with arrows, or vice-versa??

I was under the impression that there were atlatls for a long time before there were bows. But it's hard to see how anyone could be sure. Stone lasts forever, but wood and hair and horn and whatnot aren't going to be around for all that long, and what appears to be an ancient arrowhead might have been the point of something that was thrown or thrusted or whatever the appropriate verb is when using an atlatl.

I've always wondered whether the bow and arrow was developed independently in various places and times because while it seems ubiquitous it wasn't exactly everywhere - e.g., in Australia and some Amerindian tribes (who used blow darts). How definite is the "Out of Africa" theory on the origin of the bow and arrow - is there archaeological evidence or is it surmised from the fact that they were throughout the world?