Yeah, prehistoric life is sometimes portrayed as simplistic, skipping the fact that hunter-gatherers knew the landscape and all plants, grasses and animals for kilometres around. Kim Stanley Robinson’s novel ‘Shaman’ does a decent job of depicting what life in those times might’ve been like.
Granted, I instead memorize my city’s streets and organization of my computer stuff.
“Was that rock always there, or was it disturbed by a predator?”
“Hmm. That rock I remember, rough sandstone, 25 sides, angled south-east. I’m unsure of its neighbour though with rough sandstone, 25 sides, angled south-south-east.”
And some stay up all night to watch the fire and be the guard when everyone else sleeps. And some see and remember the weather patterns and can tell when it’s a good weather and when the winter is going to come. And some look at the stars and the moon and can always remember and tell the directions where to go. And some know all the animal tracks and know all the animal sounds. And some smell and taste a lot better when things are funky, so nobody dies. And…
Ancient people had to remember/memorize a lot more things just to get through their days, before writing existed.
Yeah, prehistoric life is sometimes portrayed as simplistic, skipping the fact that hunter-gatherers knew the landscape and all plants, grasses and animals for kilometres around. Kim Stanley Robinson’s novel ‘Shaman’ does a decent job of depicting what life in those times might’ve been like.
Granted, I instead memorize my city’s streets and organization of my computer stuff.
“Was that rock always there, or was it disturbed by a predator?”
“Hmm. That rock I remember, rough sandstone, 25 sides, angled south-east. I’m unsure of its neighbour though with rough sandstone, 25 sides, angled south-south-east.”
It takes a village to survive. Some to remember the exact differences between safe, fun, and deadly mushrooms and others to turn predators into prey.
And some stay up all night to watch the fire and be the guard when everyone else sleeps. And some see and remember the weather patterns and can tell when it’s a good weather and when the winter is going to come. And some look at the stars and the moon and can always remember and tell the directions where to go. And some know all the animal tracks and know all the animal sounds. And some smell and taste a lot better when things are funky, so nobody dies. And…