Chapter 27 Chapter 25 Lifestyles of the Upper Paleolithic

We were on the border between Brazil and Paraguay, and a group of Ache men were looking for food.At dawn, they began to prepare for today's hunting.They inspected their weapons and sharpened their arrows.At the same time, they kept discussing with each other which direction they should go deep into the woods today, so that it would be easier to find prey.Just as they were making noise, they suddenly heard the cry of capuchin monkeys from the south.Two of them immediately stood up and walked in that direction, making monkey-like noises at the same time. They imitated the frightened calls of young capuchin monkeys, hoping to lure the monkeys, or at least keep them from running away immediately.A few minutes later, other people also ran quickly in the same direction.The women remained where they were, and they began to gather their belongings to move camp and follow up later.

On the way, the men were sometimes tight and sometimes scattered, sometimes walking through the forest alone, sometimes in groups of two.They kept meeting with their companions and then scattered again.From time to time, they searched for beehives, and naturally there were all kinds of delicious plants and fruits.They also caught some small animals by the way, preparing to eat them later.Occasionally, you'll come across something big, such as an armadillo or a wild boar.At this time, they immediately called other companions to go into battle and round up together.Sometimes they follow the blood of injured animals, over long distances.

A few hours later, they did find the group of capuchin monkeys.This kind of monkey weighing about five kilograms often appears in the forest where the Ache people live, and they catch it almost every day.Capuchin monkeys flee through the treetops as soon as they see someone approaching, while hunters chase on the ground.They are just waiting for the opportunity to draw their bows and arrows.When they came to the tree where the monkey was hiding, all gathered together.A few of them climbed up the trees so they could get closer An arrow flew out, and it really hit a monkey.The injured monkey fell from the tree and landed on the ground.A hunter rushed over, strangled it by the neck, and held on until it stopped writhing.The hunters captured a total of ten monkeys in this way.

As dusk fell, the man joined the women and children who followed him.The women have already settled for a new bivouac.Together with the men they carve up the meat and cook it over a campfire.After the meat is cooked, it is equally distributed to each family of the tribe. Such is the life of a hunter-gatherer tribe in a day.This is probably the epitome of the living conditions of the Stone Age humans.In addition to analyzing and studying the unearthed fossils, we can only try to piece them together by observing the details of the life of modern primitive tribes, and outline the life of our ancestors in ancient times.

Leaving aside the details of how our ancestors lived and ate, one of the basic principles of human life at the time was: If you don’t exercise, don’t eat!There was no McDonald's, no pizza delivery, no food delivery.If you want to eat, you must first work hard.Physical exercise is an indispensable part of survival. It is like this every day. Hunting, gathering, digging, transporting, and running for your life when encountering ferocious beasts are all daily homework.The main content of life is to find food.Whoever is stronger and more durable can find more food and establish prestige and influence in the group.

From ancient times to the present, the purpose of eating is to save energy for survival.The energy and nutrients that are consumed must be replenished as soon as possible.The caloric consumption of the human body is composed of several parts, the most basic is the so-called basal metabolism, that is, the energy required by the human body to maintain body functions in a static state.Due to the fact that most of the muscles are quiet in daily life, basal metabolism accounts for 70% of our daily energy consumption.In addition, every physical activity takes extra energy, even a click of the mouse in front of the computer, which is called the work metabolism.The good news is that energy is also used to digest and metabolize food, which is known as the thermic effect.This accounts for 5% to 10% of total energy expenditure, with the highest energy requirement for digesting protein.In this way, the energy consumed by physical activity only accounts for about 20% of the total.

In our ancestors, it was a different story entirely.When they lived in the rich rainforest, their lives were relatively simple, food was readily available, and they spent relatively little energy searching for food.However, when climate change forced them to live in the grasslands and wilderness, and the population density continued to rise, the carefree days were gone forever, and life became more and more difficult.Driven by hunger, our ancestors had to travel long distances, expanding their range of activities and finding food. According to scientific calculations, the earliest humans had to walk fifteen kilometers back and forth every day in search of food, of course with their tools, weapons and prey.This is pretty consistent with what we measure among primitive tribes today.For example, according to observation records, among the Ache people mentioned above, men walked an average of 19 kilometers a day, and women walked about 9 kilometers a day.Khmer men walk an average of 15 kilometers a day, and women 9 kilometers.

Therefore, these people who still lead a hunter-gatherer life today burn a lot of calories through muscle exercise every day.Ache men consume an average of 1,780 calories a day for physical activity alone, and women consume 1,280 calories a day.Due to their small stature, the average energy expenditure was 30 and 25 kcal/kg body weight respectively.The energy consumption of Khlong men and women was 20 and 35 kcal/kg body weight respectively.By the way, the total energy consumed by people who sit in an office every day is only 9 kcal per kilogram of body weight! Of course the Ache and other tribes that still lived as hunter-gatherers did not go out hunting every day.Depending on their hunting luck, they average out up to four times a week.There will be a break of one to two days in between.The women, on average, go for food every two to three days.The rest of the time they are not idle.Clothes, weapons, and tools had to be mended or made new from time to time, game had to be distributed, plant food had to be processed, water had to be drawn, and wood had to be gathered for fire.The entire camp had to be cleaned up frequently, and all belongings had to be moved to another place for resettlement.And after a hard day at work, they often dance and party late into the night.

We can believe that modern hunter-gatherer tribes closely resemble ancient humans.But today there are almost no social tribes in the world that have not been influenced by Western civilization.Their formerly typical pattern of activity, alternating days of intense physical activity with days of less labor, is known as the Upper Paleolithic rhythm of life.On average, their total daily energy expenditure is basically twice or more than their basal metabolism, and this is true for most of their lives.This definitely affects their body and physiology.These children of nature don't have to go to the gym to torture their flesh with machines.Daily labor makes their muscles extremely developed.This has been demonstrated on substrates recovered from fossilized bones and joints.Plus, our ancestors likely had a low body fat percentage.Their aerobic fitness is definitely good or very good.Detailed surveys of tribes that lived as hunter-gatherers attest to the training role of the Stone Age way of life.

Yet, as we might expect, tribes living as hunter-gatherers in the modern era also experienced progress of which they are proud in the twentieth century, and the consequences were profound.The results of this progress are aptly illustrated by a group of Inuit people who lived in Canada by hunting and fishing.A research team regularly measured their physical condition called aerobic capacity.Before 1970, when these Eskimos were largely savage, they were in excellent physical condition.Over the next two decades, their natural habits of life were increasingly replaced by Western civilized ways.They began using electric sleds, jet skis, and household appliances, and received a diet high in grains.But their physical condition is deteriorating, muscle atrophy, replaced by more and more fat.

The Inuit of today are seriously threatened by Western diseases, with osteoporosis, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and heart and circulatory disease abounding at far higher rates than the Caucasians who pushed them into this lifestyle.However, not so long ago, these diseases of civilization never visited the children of nature.Apart from them, there are other nations that have stepped into industrial civilization in modern times to share the fruits of this progress.