Why the Hairy Blokes don't use tools
Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2018 4:58 pm
This is the first draft of an article I will be writing up for my site and uploading to YouTube. Before I go further with it I would appreciate member’s comments, thoughts, and suggestions. Thanks.
I have often heard it proclaimed that ‘Bigfoot is a descendant of Gigantopithicus’ camp because he does not use tools.
It is my belief he is hominid, an early version of H. Erectus or similar that at sometime branched off the evolutionary path from us… or more likely, we from him.
The question then forms, when did this branching occur? How could an evolutionary roll of the dice someday form such a divergent species? What caused this divergence?
I propose the answer may be literally at our fingertips…
Perhaps one day, a very long time ago, a very early version of Homo erectus was born with a slight disfigurement to the skeletal structure in her hands. Her kind were already special, with the developmental advantage over other animals of grasping fingers that could propel them through the branches, plucking fruit off the highest branches and prising small protein meals out of their holes.
But this evolutionary roll of the dice expressed by this particular ancestor would turn out to be uniquely advantageous for it meant for the first time an animal could position its thumb opposite to its fingers, giving it much more control over whatever it held.
Perhaps one day her deformity caused a large male to attack her in an effort to drive her away from the ‘normal’ members of his troop. Possibly she then did something never done before? She picked up a stick with which to better defend herself. But rather than swinging it as was usually done, she held it close, the disability of her strange thumbs allowing her to hold it for the first time as a thrusting spear.
Now at this time limited tool use is not unheard of. For Millenia these animals had used their grasping fingers to hurl rocks, or pound shells, nuts, or even bones for their marrow… or to throw sticks to bring down flying birds. But this time the opposing thumb allowed the stick to be far more dangerous… instead of swinging at her assailant, our ancestor (because of the grip allowed by an opposing thumb) poked him instead? He could have even rushed her in an attempt to get inside the expected swing of the stick, impaling himself with his own forward momentum onto her weapon.
Over time her descendants learnt how useful this sudden advance in stick use method was, learning to select the straightest and therefore strongest sticks, sharpening the points, even eventually developing methods for hurling the sticks at great distance.
But spear use was not the only advantage for this new opposable thumb. It allowed a better grip on stones as well… it was not long, by Palaeolithic standards, before her descendants learnt they could fashion stones into sharp edges by chipping them against other stones, Making a wide variety of tools for shaping spears, chopping wood, working animal skins, even sewing said skins into protective clothing.
What happened to the ‘normal’ ones, those who continued to evolve without this opposable thumb?
Was it here when the divergence occurred?
What would one day become Homo sapiens sapiens evolved alongside thier technology, improving it at a rapid rate, while the others, having no tools to rely on increased their chances of survival by growing larger, stronger, faster, as did many other genuses, like canids, felines, and others during the following epochs.
Indeed, is this why even today, Sasquatch do not use tools? Without a truly opposable thumb their tools never evolved beyond a handy rock or branch to pound with or to throw?
Does this also explain their reported method of throwing?… in a sidearm, swinging motion rather than overarm?
Try it yourself… throw a rock or ball without using your thumb to balance your fingers in your grip.
Holding the object in this way it is far more accurate to use an underarm or sidearm throwing motion than it is to ‘peg’ or toss it overarm.
A spear would be impossible to throw with any accuracy without an opposing thumb.
Many have proposed that Sasquatch is not a relic hominid because there is no record of them being observed using tools, therefor he must be something else… an ape of some kind, likely descended from gigantopithecus.
I propose that he is our brother, who without the tremendous advantage of control over grasped objects was forced to evolve naturally, while we evolved alongside our technology, improving it and in the process steadily striding towards a modern world of cities and concrete, while Sasquatch watched from the shadows of the forests and mountains, ever curious and likely very cautious of their strange brokers with the opposable thumbs…
I have often heard it proclaimed that ‘Bigfoot is a descendant of Gigantopithicus’ camp because he does not use tools.
It is my belief he is hominid, an early version of H. Erectus or similar that at sometime branched off the evolutionary path from us… or more likely, we from him.
The question then forms, when did this branching occur? How could an evolutionary roll of the dice someday form such a divergent species? What caused this divergence?
I propose the answer may be literally at our fingertips…
Perhaps one day, a very long time ago, a very early version of Homo erectus was born with a slight disfigurement to the skeletal structure in her hands. Her kind were already special, with the developmental advantage over other animals of grasping fingers that could propel them through the branches, plucking fruit off the highest branches and prising small protein meals out of their holes.
But this evolutionary roll of the dice expressed by this particular ancestor would turn out to be uniquely advantageous for it meant for the first time an animal could position its thumb opposite to its fingers, giving it much more control over whatever it held.
Perhaps one day her deformity caused a large male to attack her in an effort to drive her away from the ‘normal’ members of his troop. Possibly she then did something never done before? She picked up a stick with which to better defend herself. But rather than swinging it as was usually done, she held it close, the disability of her strange thumbs allowing her to hold it for the first time as a thrusting spear.
Now at this time limited tool use is not unheard of. For Millenia these animals had used their grasping fingers to hurl rocks, or pound shells, nuts, or even bones for their marrow… or to throw sticks to bring down flying birds. But this time the opposing thumb allowed the stick to be far more dangerous… instead of swinging at her assailant, our ancestor (because of the grip allowed by an opposing thumb) poked him instead? He could have even rushed her in an attempt to get inside the expected swing of the stick, impaling himself with his own forward momentum onto her weapon.
Over time her descendants learnt how useful this sudden advance in stick use method was, learning to select the straightest and therefore strongest sticks, sharpening the points, even eventually developing methods for hurling the sticks at great distance.
But spear use was not the only advantage for this new opposable thumb. It allowed a better grip on stones as well… it was not long, by Palaeolithic standards, before her descendants learnt they could fashion stones into sharp edges by chipping them against other stones, Making a wide variety of tools for shaping spears, chopping wood, working animal skins, even sewing said skins into protective clothing.
What happened to the ‘normal’ ones, those who continued to evolve without this opposable thumb?
Was it here when the divergence occurred?
What would one day become Homo sapiens sapiens evolved alongside thier technology, improving it at a rapid rate, while the others, having no tools to rely on increased their chances of survival by growing larger, stronger, faster, as did many other genuses, like canids, felines, and others during the following epochs.
Indeed, is this why even today, Sasquatch do not use tools? Without a truly opposable thumb their tools never evolved beyond a handy rock or branch to pound with or to throw?
Does this also explain their reported method of throwing?… in a sidearm, swinging motion rather than overarm?
Try it yourself… throw a rock or ball without using your thumb to balance your fingers in your grip.
Holding the object in this way it is far more accurate to use an underarm or sidearm throwing motion than it is to ‘peg’ or toss it overarm.
A spear would be impossible to throw with any accuracy without an opposing thumb.
Many have proposed that Sasquatch is not a relic hominid because there is no record of them being observed using tools, therefor he must be something else… an ape of some kind, likely descended from gigantopithecus.
I propose that he is our brother, who without the tremendous advantage of control over grasped objects was forced to evolve naturally, while we evolved alongside our technology, improving it and in the process steadily striding towards a modern world of cities and concrete, while Sasquatch watched from the shadows of the forests and mountains, ever curious and likely very cautious of their strange brokers with the opposable thumbs…
